Beauty, the Beast
by criminalxxxmindsxxxfreak
Summary: The BAU receives their most baffling case yet - girls being killed without any cause of death. And things just keep getting weirder when two strangers show up out of nowhere and claim they know what's going on. Aliens, of course. Reid whump to come.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Beauty, The Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: ***Rubs hands together excitedly* I can say with absolute certainty that this story has got me more excited than any story I've posted on here thus far, excluding, perhaps, "Fractured Hearts & Lullabies". It's probably so exciting because this is my very first Doctor Who/Criminal Minds crossover! XD

I'm not sure how well I did with the Doctor Who characters… so please let me know if you think I'm screwing them up. And of course, if you think the plot is silly or stupid, let me know that too. If you've read any of my other fics you'll know that I love angst and darkness and grittiness and all that wonderful stuff. And if you're really familiar with it, you'll know I have certain rules that I follow… *deep breath* a couple of those rules **may** be broken in the course of this story, but as for which ones I'm not saying. Suspense, I believe, makes for a better story anyway.

And as for relationships… right now the only real pairing will be Kevin/Garcia and since that's canon, it hardly matters. There may be other pairings later, I haven't decided yet. Anyway, this is set in early season 7 of Criminal Minds and probably somewhere mid-series 3 for Doctor Who, so yes, Martha is there.

Hope you guys enjoy! Don't forget to drop me a review!

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><p><strong>Beauty, The Beast<strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

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><p>"Light thinks it travels faster than anything, but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always gotten there first, and is waiting for it."<br>**~Terry Pratchett**

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><p>Martha stumbled out of the TARDIS, waving her hand in front of her face, coughing slightly. A faint billow of wispy smoke followed her as she stepped onto the dark street and looked around, squinting at the street lights. The Doctor soon followed her, shaking out his long coat and shutting the doors before turning to face the street with keen, perceptive eyes.<p>

"Where are we?" Martha asked, spinning around in a slow circle. "It looks like somewhere recent."

The Doctor was silent for a moment as he studied the dim lit street, "Not sure… somewhere in the early 2000s… Probably, oh, 2011 or near enough,"

"That's so close…" Martha sounded surprised. She'd met Shakespeare, nearly gotten killed by Daleks and pig monsters in the 1930s and almost crushed by Macra on the Motorway of New New York, but 2011? That seemed so tame compared to everything else. "Where exactly are we then? Doesn't look like London."

"It's not…" The Doctor frowned, walking down the deserted street to a newspaper box and kneeling in front of it, opening the lid easily with his sonic screwdriver. He pulled one out and slid his glasses on, scanning the paper for anything important or out of the ordinary. "This is the United States!" he blinked in surprise, "…Virginia to be exact."

"Virginia…" Martha walked up beside him to read the paper over his shoulder, "Why would the TARDIS bring us here? I thought you said we were going to the 51st century and here we are, stateside, just a few years into the future."

The Doctor nodded, a grim expression on his face, "That we are…" he murmured, "Something must've pulled us off course, drawn the TARDIS here for some reason."

Martha raised a brow, watching as he slid his glasses off and put them back into his suit pocket. "Something… dangerous?" she asked curiously.

He grinned and she couldn't help but smile back as she saw that now very familiar light in his big brown eyes. "Dangerous… perhaps. Or powerful,"

"Maybe it's both," Martha suggested, feeling herself already getting ready to run whenever it was necessary. Life with the Doctor… lots and lots of running.

His grin somehow grew even wider, "Oh, don't get my hopes up…"

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>Just a few miles away, on a similar street, a nineteen year old girl sat on a rusty bus bench, the faintest traces of tears still lingering on her cheeks. Her long brown hair was covering most of her face and sitting beside her was a small duffle bag with her cell phone in one pocket, packed full with clothes and just enough money and food to keep her going for a week at the most. She hadn't wanted to leave, but she couldn't stand another fight with her mother… so she packed her bags and walked out the door.<p>

Now more than ever, she found herself wanting her mother's embrace. She sobbed quietly and buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking slightly.

A pale, thin hand suddenly slipped through the darkness of the night and she jerked when it brushed against her arm.

"Oh, shush," a soft voice spoke and a tall, slender woman stepped out of the shadows, smiling kindly down at her. The girl was struck dumb for a moment. The woman was beautiful. Long, thick blond curls spilling over her shoulders, large blue eyes sparkling in the street light, perfect red lips and skin that almost glowed in the darkness. "It's alright, sweetheart." She had such a gentle, wonderful voice.

"What's your name?"

"An-Anna," the girl stuttered slightly, still breathing shakily from her sobs.

The woman smiled and sat down next to her, placing a warm hand on her back, "Anna… That's a beautiful name," she whispered, using her other hand to lift Anna's chin so that she could look into her eyes. "And such a pretty face as well." She beamed at her and wiped the tears away.

"Now, hush, sweetheart, no need for those tears," she assured her, looking around, "Are you alone?"

Anna nodded numbly. She wasn't entirely sure why she was talking to this woman. Some small little voice in the back of her mind was screaming at her to take her bag and run, run as far and as fast as she could, but she was so beautiful and wonderful and kind… Why should she run from her?

The woman licked her curved lips and stood, "Good…" she said quietly, almost as if she were talking to herself. "Now, Anna, I'm sure you must be cold and hungry. Follow me, I can give you everything you could ever dream of."

Anna hesitated for a moment, studying the woman's outstretched hands. Her fingernails were long and sharp, painted a deep, glittering black. "W-Who are you?" she finally asked, looking back up at the woman and meeting her crystalline eyes.

"I'm here to help, Anna," she insisted, "Just take my hand. Follow me. I can show you such wonderful things…" She wriggled her long fingers and Anna stared down at them, tempted take them, but still a little bit nervous. The woman scowled after a moment, her pretty features distorting into something altogether sinister and evil and she was grateful Anna's attention was still on her hand.

"Follow me, Anna, and you'll never be lonely and hurt again. I promise. I'll take care of you,"

Anna's eyes drifted back up the woman's face and she took a deep breath, nodding, mostly to herself. She reached out and took the woman's hand, allowing her to tug her off into the darkness. It wasn't until they were well down the street that Anna remembered she'd left her bag on the bench. And by then, it was too late.

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>Coffee. That was the one thing on Dr. Spencer Reid's mind as he made his way to the Round Table Room early the next morning. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before; another of his headaches had kept him up. They had, thankfully, become less frequent in the recent months, but were still as severe as ever when they did decide to plague him. His eyes were only half open as he pulled his chair out and sat down, reaching out and grabbing the folder from where Garcia had already placed it.<p>

"You alright, Pretty Boy?" Morgan asked quietly, eyeing his friend with concern.

Reid nodded and fought back a yawn, "I'm fine, Morgan, just tired. Once I get some coffee, I'll be back to normal,"

JJ, sitting on Reid's other side, smiled, "Coffee," she laughed, "That's your solution to everything isn't it?"

Reid looked defensive, opening the folder while everyone else turned their attention to their tablets, "Coffee is good," he muttered.

JJ and Prentiss smiled faintly, sharing a quick look before giving their full attention to the tablets and the plasma screen at the front of the conference room. Though he had yet to really say anything out loud, JJ couldn't even begin to admit how relieved she was that Reid seemed to have forgiven her for all of the lies and deceit over the last few months. She had always known it would be difficult, once Prentiss came back from the "dead", but she hadn't really thought very far into the huge emotional impact it would have on someone like Reid.

Things still felt a bit strange, if she were being honest. Having Prentiss back, being promoted, hell, even just being back with the BAU. It had all happened so fast it felt like the dust had barely had time to settle in her old office yet and here she was once again. Looking around at her team, her extended family, she wouldn't have it any other way.

"So," Garcia spoke from the end of the table, holding the remote in her hands, "As you can see this isn't, thankfully, one of our more disturbingly gruesome psychos… but it is a little strange,"

"Strange how?" Rossi asked, glancing up as she showed them blown up photographs of three young girls, probably late teens to early twenties, lying dead in city alleys. They were abnormally pale, deep bruising on their wrists and ankles and all fully clothed.

Garcia took a deep breath, "Three girls, missing and found dead in the Quantico area. The only thing any of them have in common is they're relatively close in age. Kelly Fey was a redhead, short, eighteen years old; her friends said she was walking home from a party one night and she never made it. Her body turned up twenty-four hours later. Michelle Force, blond, tall, athletic, twenty-three. She went out for her nightly jog at eight, never came back and was found dead the next night,"

Pressing her lips together, Garcia pulled another picture to the front, "Caryl Shea, brunette, college student, twenty. She stayed at the library to do research for a project, was supposed to take the late bus back to her apartment; roommate said she never showed. Found dead the next night. And, our latest apparent victim, Anna Hutchinson. She's nineteen, brunette. Lives with her mother. According to her, she packed her bag and left late last night, no one's seen her since."

"Packed her bags?" Hotch frowned, flipping through the files on the tablet, "She's nineteen. She could be staying with friends,"

"Or maybe running away," Morgan offered, "What makes her an apparent victim?"

Garcia took a deep breath and clicked her remote again, "Early this morning, local police found a bag with Anna's wallet, driver's license, clothes and cell phone inside. No sign of Anna anywhere,"

Reid frowned as his fingers slid down the page of his file, "There was no sign of a struggle at the scene? No blood or anything?"

"Nada," Garcia said, glancing back up at the screen and wincing slightly as she looked at the smiling face of Anna Hutchinson. "She just vanished. They _all _just vanished."

"And there was no sign of any sexual assault," Prentiss remarked in surprise as she looked over the autopsy reports. "Strange… So, our UnSub is abducting these girls late at night when they're alone and he keeps them for twenty-four hours. What for?"

"There's no sign of anything," JJ said after a moment, "This doesn't make sense. What was the cause of death? Other than the bruising caused from being restrained, there's nothing. No cuts, no stabs, no defensive wounds…"

Reid frowned, "There isn't a cause of death," he murmured, "The ME report says their hearts just… stopped."

Rossi frowned, "An entire day. No sign of any physical abuse. And three girls dead. What's he doing to them?"

The entire team followed his gaze as he stared up at the eerily smiling face. Those photos were often harder to look at than the crime scene photos were. They depicted the victims as they were before their lives had been horribly and unfairly snatched away from them.

Shaking his head, Hotch stood, "We'd better get started. We've got less than twelve hours before Anna turns up like the others,"

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>Martha sighed heavily as they walked down the street. It was late in the morning and they still hadn't found anything alien or out of place to suggest something sinister going on at all.<p>

"Doesn't seem very dangerous, does it?" she murmured, glancing up at the Doctor as they walked into a small diner, "Besides, what would aliens be doing in a town like Quantico, Virginia anyway?"

The Doctor raised his brow and smiled slightly, "Well what would they do in a place like Cardiff for that matter? Easy. Destroy the entire planet, that's what,"

Martha smiled and shook her head, "Well, still, doesn't seem even remotely dark and spooky, does it? All bright sunshine and breezes. Nice people…"

"Aaaand," The Doctor said, "The FBI Headquarters, can't forget that. Hostile aliens, they'd have a field day with the US Federal Government's enforcement, now wouldn't they?"

She made a face at him as they took their seats at a small booth and a young waitress quickly took their order and scurried off to the kitchens. "Alright, you've got a point there. But the FBI's got different offices all over this country, don't they? Otherwise they wouldn't really be doing much good, just sitting in Virginia, having to travel thousands of miles to arrest someone?"

The Doctor shrugged, "Fair enough. But this is the _main _Headquarters. It's where the Director is. A lot more power here than any of those other branches,"

"So, you think that there's an alien, or aliens, trying to infiltrate the Unite States' federal government?"

"Well… that's just one theory. There are plenty of others. First I've got to find out what pulled the TARDIS here in the first place. Something's going on here, Martha. I can feel it in the air, can't you?"

Martha shook her head and smiled kindly at the waitress as she returned with her coffee and soon disappeared again, "All I feel is tired. You kept me up all night, wandering these streets looking for aliens," she rolled her eyes as she took a long drink of her coffee, "And what did we find? Nothing at all."

She continued talking for a moment or two before she realized the Doctor wasn't even paying attention and she frowned, waving her hand in front of his face, "Doctor? Are you even listening to me?" she demanded angrily.

"Shh!" he hissed and leaned forward in his seat, his eyes locked onto something behind her head. She made a face and turned around to see what was so important and realized it was a television, tuned to a local news station. The volume was off, but underneath the picture, captions ran across the screen and she squinted to read what they were saying.

_"-leaving the local police baffled. The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit has been called in to handle the case. They're on the scene of what is suspected to be the fourth abduction now. Police urge you to call if you've seen Anna Hutchinson," _a photo of a young girl, smiling brightly, flashed across the screen, _"And to stay indoors at night. Nowhere alone is safe."_

Martha pressed her lips together and looked back at the Doctor, his expression grim now, "Doctor… what is it?"

Slowly, he turned his eyes to look at the young doctor-in-training and Martha wasn't entirely sure she wanted to hear what he had to say anymore. His voice was quiet and somber as he spoke, "I think we just found our alien interference," he said grimly, "And it's killing young girls in this city…"

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><p><strong>~DWCM~**

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><p><strong>EN: **So, there's the first chapter down. No interaction between the characters just yet. Next chapter is where that starts. Hope you guys enjoyed it! And please let me know what you think, guys!

Don't forget to review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Beauty, The Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **And onto chapter two :D Thanks so much for all of the reviews guys! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. Thanks!

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><p><strong>Beauty, The Beast<strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

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><p>The street was roped off by bright yellow crime scene tape when the Doctor and Martha arrived. Several police men and techs were standing around, dusting the bus bench for prints and looking for anything they may have missed before that might indicate where Anna had gone.<p>

"So what's the plan?" Martha asked, standing on her toes to see over the shoulder of a tall man standing near the edge of the tape. Apparently, the people in the neighborhood were very interested in the abduction site of a nineteen year old girl. "Flash the psychic paper and say we're FBI agents?"

"Nah," the Doctor shook his head, his eyes sweeping over the small, roped off area. "Nothing important for us here anyway. Besides, the agents working this case wouldn't recognize us. Probably ask too many questions."

Martha frowned and glanced back at the bench, "So where are we going then?" she asked, "We can't just stand around here all day."

"'Course not," the Doctor agreed, "We're going to the city morgue."

Martha's brows scrunched together, "What?"

"We still don't know what exactly is going on here," the Doctor explained, "We need to know what's happening to those girls, so first we need to find out how they died. To do that, we need to go to the morgue."

Martha sighed, shaking her head. "Alright, fine. Dead people it is. How do you plan on getting in there?"

The Doctor grinned thoughtfully, "Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something. But first, we've got to get there. So come on, _Allons-y!"_

Martha smiled and laughed to herself as the Doctor turned and took off at a quick jog down the street toward another bus stop. She had to admit that she loved the Doctor's thirst for adventure and danger… just as long as it didn't get her killed.

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>Hotch frowned and glanced at his watch, "Alright, Morgan, Prentiss you two go to the last dump site. See what you can find. Reid, Rossi, the ME is waiting at the morgue. JJ, you're with me. We're going to talk to Anna's mother,"<p>

They still only had a partial profile, nothing even close to definitive. They couldn't even narrow down a proper comfort zone for the UnSub; the victims had gone missing in vastly different areas of the city and victimology wasn't much better. The only thing any of them seemed to have in common was that they were young women and they were all taken at night, while alone.

All they knew at this point was that the UnSub was taking victims at random, whenever and wherever the opportunity presented itself. The question was, what was he doing with them and _how _was he killing them?

They split into pairs to their designated tasks and left Garcia to her computers and research.

"What do you think he's doing with them?" Rossi asked as he and Reid got into one of the bureau sanctioned SUVs. Reid looked thoughtful for a moment, buckling his seat belt and staring out the window before answering.

"It could be almost anything," he said, "If the motive isn't sexual and he's not torturing them, then there's got to be something else. Something we just can't see yet."

Rossi nodded and watched the streets as they drove. "Whatever it is, he managed to take them without anyone noticing and kill them without leaving a single trace behind,"

Reid chewed his lower lips absently, squinting out the windshield through his sunglasses. He could feel another headache coming on, just lingering faintly around the edges of his mind. His temples throbbed gently and he instinctively clenched his fists. Now, of all times, was not the time for this. He needed to focus; he needed his mind.

"Kid?" Rossi frowned and glanced over at the young agent, taking in his white-knuckled fists and stiff muscles. "You alright?"

Reid blinked and looked back at him, nodding slowly, "Yeah, fine. Just tired…" he trailed off and Rossi looked skeptical, turning his attention back to the road. Whatever was going on with him would have to wait; they had a case to solve now.

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>The morgue was cold as they entered and Reid shivered, the bright lights playing havoc with his already aching head. He had to fight the urge to put his sunglasses back on as he and Rossi approached a tall woman with messy brown curls, wearing a white lab coat and looking over a medical chart. He didn't need Rossi asking any more questions. It was just a headache; it would go away eventually. At least, that's what he kept telling himself.<p>

"Ah," the woman looked up and a faint, if slightly sad, smile crossed her lips and she sat the clipboard down. "You must be with the BAU. Dr. Annalise Dreier." She said, holding out a gloved hand. Rossi shook it and Reid stood a couple of feet back, offering her a forced smile and a small wave.

"David Rossi," Rossi introduced himself, "This is Spencer Reid." He paused for a moment and glanced down at the body laid out on the metal table in front of them. "Is this the latest victim?" he asked.

Dr. Dreier nodded, "Caryl Shea," she said quietly. "I haven't found a definitive cause of death for her or the others. It's as if their hearts just… quit."

Reid studied the pale body, almost blue from the cold in the room and tilted his head, forcing himself to think. His thoughts felt a bit scattered and the throbbing was getting worse but he refused to let it interfere with his job.

"You know, she could have died from fright. It's been proven to be a legitimate cause of death many times. Someone sees something that terrifies them and their hearts can't take the adrenaline; they go into cardiac arrest and literally die of fear," he suggested, reaching out and placing a finger just over her face. She had been a pretty young woman.

"Ooh, that's an excellent theory," a voice behind them spoke and the three of them turned around to see a tall, skinny man in a suit and a long overcoat accompanied by a shorter, dark skinned woman who stood behind him, looking around the morgue with equal parts fascination and apprehension.

"Of course, three people dying of fright doesn't really make much sense. I mean, one, maybe two I could understand, but three in a row?" the man raised his brow and smiled at Reid, "Still, that's quite brilliant. What was your name?"

Reid frowned at him, "Dr. Spencer Reid,"

"So you're the ME?" the man asked.

"No, that's me," Dr. Dreier stepped forward, looking between the two newcomers with slight suspicion. "These two are with the BAU."

"Ah, just who I wanted to talk to," the man grinned again and Rossi narrowed his eyes skeptically.

"And who exactly are you?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm Dr. John Smith and this is my associate, Miss Martha Jones," he pulled a small leather wallet out of his coat pocket and flashed it in their faces before quickly slipping it back inside. "I'm sort of a, uh, freelance consultant. Mysterious deaths are my specialties." He grinned wide again and Rossi frowned, remaining unconvinced.

"We don't need a consultant, Dr. Smith," Rossi said, frowning, "We've got it covered –"

"No, wait," Reid was looking at the Doctor and Martha funnily, "Maybe he can help, Rossi. It can't hurt, can it?"

The Doctor grinned and raised his brows at Reid; Martha, still behind him, just looked relieved to have not been thrown out the second they walked into the morgue.

Rossi still didn't seem sure, but he conceded somewhat reluctantly, "I'll run it by Hotch," he said, pulling out his cell phone and quietly making his way to the hall to call the Unit Chief. He glanced back at "Doctor Smith" and still looked slightly suspicious and unhappy, but figured Reid did have a point. What did they have to lose?

As soon as Rossi let the door close behind him, Martha stepped forward, "Is that one of the victims?" she asked quietly, eyeing the dead girl with somber eyes.

Dr. Dreier nodded, "The third victim: Caryl Shea. She was found the night before last," there was a sadness to her voice that hadn't been there a moment ago, "And like I was just telling the agents, there isn't any definitive cause of death. Her heart simply stopped working."

Reid frowned and leaned down closer to inspect the young woman's skin, "Did you run toxicology on her and the others?" he asked, glancing up at the ME briefly.

"Yes, of course. But it takes a few days for the results to get back. I only have Kelly Fey's results and they're completely normal. All she had in her system was a small amount of aspirin."

"What about something that could have been dissolved in the body?" Martha suggested, "Something that a toxicology scan wouldn't pick up on?"

Reid glanced at her and then back to Dr. Dreier, who thoughtfully studied the chart once more. "It's possible," she said, "But how would the drugs have gotten into their system? There are no signs of force feeding, no needle marks indicating she was injected with anything."

"You checked between her toes?" the Doctor asked, "In her navel? Between her fingers? Underneath her fingernails?"

Dr. Dreier frowned and nodded, "Of course I did, Dr. Smith, I know how to do my job!" she snapped.

"What about her head?" Reid suggested, moving around to stand at the front of the autopsy table, "He could have injected it through her scalp. A tiny little needle mark would be hard to detect there."

Dr. Dreier frowned and looked thoughtful, reaching over and grabbing a small thin flashlight, bending down and gently lifting the young woman's head off the table, carefully shining the light down into her hair. The Doctor grabbed a pair of latex gloves from a container and slipped them on, moving to her side and helping her.

Reid and Martha stood by quietly, both turning when Rossi re-entered the room and frowned curiously at them. After a moment, Dr. Dreier sighed and gently sat Caryl's head back against the table. "Nothing. Not a bump or a scratch," she sighed, looking deflated and Reid frowned.

"Still, that was another excellent idea, Dr. Reid," The Doctor said, "How'd you think of that?"

Reid blinked and frowned at him, "An UnSub a few years ago. He was faking suicides and covering it up by injecting them in the head…" he trailed off and stared down at the young woman's body. "But if there isn't an injection and it's unlikely she was forced to swallow it… Maybe it was absorbed through her skin."

The Doctor's eyes twinkled and he glanced to Martha, "Oh, I like you Spencer Reid," he said, "Full of suggestions and ideas. Brilliant, you are."

Reid raised a brow and frowned.

"There's a dead woman on the table, Dr. Smith," Rossi pointed out dryly, his annoyance eking through slightly as he frowned at the man. "This isn't a game."

The Doctor blinked and Martha pressed her lips together tightly. Suddenly his expression was very serious, "Oh, I know, believe me I know,"

Rossi frowned and shook his head, "I'll call Garcia and get her to run a search for any poisons and toxins that can be absorbed through the skin and don't show up on tox screens. It's a long shot, but maybe we'll get lucky," he paused and frowned, eyeing Martha and the Doctor, "Hotch said they can stay." He sounded irritated to even say that aloud and he walked back out of the morgue, dialing Garcia's number.

Reid shook his head slightly and turned back to Dr. Dreier, "Thank you, Doctor," he said, "If you find anything else, call us immediately." He turned and looked at the Doctor and Martha for a moment longer. The Doctor was back to his grinning self and Martha sighed, holding her hand out.

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Reid," she said, then glanced at the body, "Wish it could've been somewhere more pleasant."

Reid glanced back at the body too and then nodded, his eyes narrowed and suspicious now, "Me too. Do you two need a ride? We've got room in our SUV."

"Oh, that would be lovely," Martha nodded, jerking her thumb back at the Doctor who looked completely unapologetic. "He dragged me across town on three different busses just to get here. The smell was awful."

Reid nodded shortly, "It's parked out here," he said, briskly leaving the morgue behind and leading the way to the parking lot. Rossi nodded to them as they passed, still on the phone with Garcia. As soon as they climbed into the SUV, Reid grabbed his sunglasses, slipping them on gratefully as the pounding in his temples died down a little bit and he turned around in the seat.

The Doctor was about to say something when he caught the look on Reid's face and his brows fell down in confusion.

"Who are you two?" Reid demanded.

The Doctor blinked, "I told you. Dr. John Smith and Martha Jones. Remember the credentials? I showed them to you just a few minutes ago…"

Reid shook his head, "No. You showed me a blank piece of paper. I don't know why Rossi and Dr. Dreier didn't notice it, but there's obviously something going on. Who are you?"

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>Hotch squinted slightly against the sunlight as he and JJ left Louise Hutchinson's house. "Meet us back at the Round Table Room," he said, talking to Rossi on the phone. "We'll be there in about fifteen minutes. Morgan and Prentiss should be back by then," he frowned and clipped the phone back to his belt before turning to JJ with a frown.<p>

"Garcia didn't call any consultants did she?" he asked.

JJ raised a brow, shaking her head, "No. Why? What happened?"

"A Dr. John Smith apparently showed up at the morgue claiming to be a freelance consultant…"

JJ's brows lifted, "And he wants to work on the case?" she asked. "How did he even get into the morgue?"

"He had credentials; apparently everything was in order. Have you ever heard of him before?" he asked, pulling the SUV door open and climbing inside.

"No… Dr. John Smith…" JJ mused, frowning thoughtfully, "Common name, isn't it?" she asked.

"Like John Doe," Hotch murmured, his jaw set hard and his eyes narrowed suspiciously as he stared at the road ahead of them.

JJ nodded, "You think it's a fake name?" she asked.

"I don't know," Hotch admitted, "We'll meet him and find out. Whoever he is, it's unlikely that this is just a coincidence. He probably knows something about what's going on. More than he's willing to say to us at least."

JJ was quiet for a moment, "Do you think he could be our UnSub?"

Hotch thought about that, "I considered it when Rossi mentioned he turned up out of nowhere, but he's got a woman with him. So if he is the UnSub, she'd be working with him and this doesn't feel like the work of two UnSubs…"

"She could be with him against her will," JJ pointed out thoughtfully, "Or maybe he's using her to lure the victims. Wouldn't they be more likely to trust another woman than a man?"

Hotch nodded slowly, "Good point. Call Garcia, tell her to run a search on them. Dr. John Smith and Martha Jones. Rossi said they had English accents, that might narrow it down some."

JJ nodded and pulled out her cell phone, "I'm on it," she said. Then she paused as she thought of something, "Do you think Reid and Rossi could be in danger?"

Hotch shook his head, "They'll be alright. Rossi will keep a close watch on both of them until we can be sure we know who we're dealing with. Maybe they really are who they say; they could help us solve this case if they are."

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><p><strong>~DWCM~**

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><p><strong>AN: **Ah Rossi, why must you annoy me? I'm not sure if he's in-character or not… *grumbles* Hotch and Rossi give me the most trouble of all the CM characters.

Oh, and I just noticed… the victim Caryl Shea… yeah, I was NOT thinking about iCarly when I typed that name *shrugs* That was just an odd coincidence.

And since I'm talking about names… I have an uncle named John Smith. And his son's name is John Smith. His father was also named John Smith. …I'm such a nerd :D

Hope you guys enjoyed! Don't forget to review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **Beauty, The Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **Another huge thanks to all of the lovely reviewers! And of course thanks to all of you who added this to story alerts and favorites as well! You guys are amazing!

So… Glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter. I was worried about Rossi and Hotch (mostly Rossi) being out-of-character. Anyway, this chapter shall feature more Garcia because she's been sadly neglected so far in this fic and I love her too much for that to continue!

Also... Who else cried and wanted to hit something when they heard Paget Brewster won't be returning to Criminal Minds next season! :'( We just got her back and she's leaving us again! *sobs* Emily shall be missed dearly!

Reid (pun intended) and enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

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><p>Prentiss put her hands on her hips and knelt down beside the dumpster that Caryl Shea's body had so recently rested with. There was a foul odor coming from the garbage and she scrunched her nose, shaking her head.<p>

"There's nothing here at all," she said, standing. "They were just dumped and left here with the trash."

"Maybe that's how the UnSub sees them," Morgan said, "After they get whatever it is they want from them, they're worthless."

Prentiss nodded, "But we still have no idea what it is that he's doing with them. He hasn't taken anything off the bodies that we can see. He didn't rape them or torture them. He just took them and killed them…"

Morgan frowned, frustration clear on his face. "There's got to be something we're missing here," he muttered, "Something important."

Prentiss eyed the alley with sadness and determination in her wide, dark eyes. "We'll figure it out, Derek," she said, "They can't hide their motives forever."

Morgan nodded absently, "Yeah, but think about it, Prentiss, this guy doesn't seem to care about the media. There's no blood, no messages, no taunts. He's probably not even following the media on this. Doesn't care that we're looking for him. Those kind of UnSubs can be even more dangerous than the ones who want the fame,"

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>The Doctor was silent for a moment, staring at the FBI agent currently frowning at him from behind a pair of sunglasses. He took a deep breath, "Alright," he said slowly, "You want the truth. I'm the Doctor. And this really is Martha Jones." He motioned to Martha, who glanced at him and forced a smile, waving at him from the backseat in way reminiscent of Reid's own little half-waves.<p>

"Hello," Martha said again, her laugh a little nervous. This was the FBI after all. They had guns and handcuffs. What did they have? A sonic screwdriver. Fat lot of good that did if they got themselves shot. She was pretty sure it couldn't fix bullet wounds.

Reid remained unmoved in the front seat, shaking his head, "Doctor who? Of what?"

"Oh, a little bit of everything I suppose," the Doctor said, shrugging casually, "And it's just the Doctor."

Reid raised a brow, "You're name is Doctor?" he asked skeptically.

"Yep," he nodded, "Just the Doctor. More of a title really, but that's who I am."

Reid pursed his lips, "Okay. What are you doing here? How did you get into the morgue? And why didn't Rossi and Dr. Dreier say anything about that paper being blank? I know Rossi and he'd have thrown you out in a second if he'd noticed that," He was trying so hard to keep his focus. His head was really starting to scream now; it almost felt as if his eyes were pulsing with every beat of his heart. He gritted his teeth and ignored it. This was important.

"Well, to be honest I'm surprised _you_ noticed it, Dr. Reid," the Doctor said, "But that's what I said before wasn't it?" he turned to look at Martha, nudging her gently and looking back at Reid, "Brilliant." He grinned and watched curiously as Reid's confusion grew.

"And?" Reid asked, "What are you doing here?" he repeated, "How did you get into the morgue? Why didn't they notice it was blank?"

The Doctor sighed, "Blimey, you're full of questions aren't you?" he murmured.

"Doctor," Martha spoke up after a moment, "Maybe we should tell him the truth. He could help us."

The Doctor looked reluctant for a moment and Martha frowned at him, giving him a pointed stare, "Doctor, we need help. So far we haven't gotten very far have we? And he's working on this case too. He can help. And like you said: brilliant, remember?"

The Doctor sighed, "Alright, alright," he sighed.

Reid pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to numb the pulsing in his brain. He needed it to stop. He couldn't think and everything seemed to be blurring together slightly. He took a deep breath and focused his attention back on the Doctor and Martha.

"Are you two going to explain what you're talking about?" he asked, glancing behind him. Rossi would probably be back at any moment and he was sure that when he came back he wouldn't be getting anything else out of them.

The Doctor nodded, and shifted in the seat, "It's a bit of a long story… Where to start…?" he frowned and looked thoughtful for a moment too long and Martha sighed, elbowing him gently in the ribs. "Ow!" he frowned at her, "No need for violence, Martha, I'm getting there. …Now, let me see. I suppose I should start with the case. We think that whatever's killing your victims isn't human."

Reid tilted his head, frowning, "Not human as in, animal? Or… extraterrestrial?"

"Extraterrestrial," Martha said, "There's something alien here in this city and we think it's responsible for those girls' deaths."

Reid was quiet for a moment, thinking. Just a couple of years ago if someone had something like that to him, he wouldn't have believed it, but considering all that had been happening in the world lately, an alien serial killer didn't seem so farfetched to him anymore.

"Okay," he nodded slowly as he worked through his pain muddled thoughts, "What makes you believe an alien is behind this?" he asked.

The Doctor took a deep breath, "Well… I've got this… ship. And Martha and I, we were heading somewhere else when it got pulled off course and we ended up here. It takes a lot of power to pull the TARDIS off course. Nothing from this planet could have possibly done it. So, naturally, it's something not from this planet. We were investigating when we saw the news about those girls being killed… So we decided to drop by the morgue and see what we could find."

Reid frowned, nodding to himself. He was surprised how much sense that actually made. "What about the paper?" he asked, "And … you said your ship? What kind of ship?"

The Doctor pulled the leather wallet back out of his jacket and flipped it open, "Simple psychic paper. Shows people whatever I want it to. Well, most people, anyway. Shakespeare saw right through it, just like you did. Most people can't."

"Psychic paper?" Reid raised a brow and reached out, taking the wallet and studying it. It was just a simple black leather wallet with a blank piece of paper inside. He didn't understand how it could do what the Doctor claimed it could. But at the moment, he didn't care to try and work it out. His head was killing him. He passed it back to the Doctor and frowned, "And your ship?" he asked.

"The TARDIS," The Doctor said, nodding, "Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

Reid blinked, murmuring to himself, "Time and Relative Dimension…" he frowned thoughtfully, before looking at the Doctor with wide eyes. "Are you telling me you have a time machine?" he demanded.

The Doctor's grinned widened, "Oh, I knew I liked you," he beamed, "Time machine. Space ship. Yes."

Reid's brows scrunched together and he frowned, thinking about the "Shakespeare" comment from a moment ago. He'd dismissed it then, but if he really did have a time machine… Impossible. Time travel was a thing straight out of science fiction. It wasn't real. Was it? He studied the two people in the backseat more thoroughly and frowned, "Where are you from?" he asked.

Before either of them could answer, Rossi suddenly appeared at the door and slid into the driver's seat. Reid sighed and turned back around in the seat as the passengers fell silent.

"Garcia's looking for toxins," he said, "Hotch wants us back at the BAU." He glanced in the rearview mirror and frowned skeptically at Martha and the Doctor.

"And our new consultants," he added, turning the key in the ignition and glancing over at Reid. The young man had his eyes closed behind his sunglasses, his fists clenched tight in his lap. Rossi forgot about the Doctor and Martha for a moment and eyed his partner in concern.

"Kid are you sure you're alright?" he asked, his voice more gentle than it had ever been before. Reid nodded stiffly and looked up, opening his eyes just enough to see and forcing a smile.

"I'm fine, Rossi," he assured him. "Just a little headache. It'll pass; I've got some ibuprofen in my desk."

Rossi did believe him for a second. Whatever was wrong, it was more than just a simple headache. But if Reid didn't want him to know what was really going on, he wouldn't push him. He just nodded. "Alright… If you're sure."

"I'm fine," Reid's voice came out a little harsher then and Rossi frowned, making a mental note to mention it to Hotch. If anyone could convince Reid to take time off when he needed it, it would be Hotch.

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>Hotch and JJ hadn't made it back by the time Rossi, Reid, the Doctor and Martha arrived. Reid left Rossi with the Doctor and Martha and made his way to Garcia's office, his head still pounding. Rossi noticed that he didn't stop by his desk to get the ibuprofen he claimed to have and shook his head as he led Martha and "Dr. Smith" to the conference room.<p>

Reid tapped gently on Garcia's door before entering to find her busily typing away on her keyboards. She looked up and smiled at him, "Ah, there's my boy genius," she grinned, "I thought you might be my Chocolate Adonis."

Reid managed to smiled, "Sorry, just me,"

"Oh, don't be sorry!" Garcia spun around and fixed him with one of her scariest stares. "You're still my baby, and don't you forget it."

Reid smiled and moved closer, looking over the computer screen, wincing slightly as the lights attacked his already aching head. "Did you find anything about those toxins?" he asked.

"Plenty," Garcia said, spinning around to face her screens and beginning to type rapidly once more. "But nothing good. There are dozens of poisons and toxins that can be absorbed through the skin, but the problem is that absorbing it through the skin makes it less potent, meaning you need a bigger dose. And most of them turn up in a tox screen if you know what you're looking for. Besides that, there are almost always symptoms that present themselves physically. Internal bleeding, blisters, rashes…"

Reid sighed, "I was afraid of that," he said, squinting his eyes against the light of the screens. "It's a long shot, but could you send the ME the list of toxins anyway? Tell her to search specifically for those and see if anything turns up."

There was a faint knocking and the two turned around to see Martha standing there, "Hello," she smiled at them and greeted Garcia, "Martha Jones, nice to meet you."

Garcia held out a colorfully decorated hand and smiled at her, "Penelope Garcia," she said kindly, before turning around and hitting a few buttons, closing one of the windows on the screen in front of her.

"I'm sorry to interrupt… Agent Rossi told me where to find you; I had a thought,"

"About what?" Reid asked curiously.

"Well… if the toxicology screens are coming up normal and poison is the most likely cause of death, then what about breathing it in? Something airborne wouldn't show physical signs of being administered."

Garcia nodded, "True, but we'd run into the same problem we did with the other toxins… Other symptoms would still present themselves and most of them would turn up in a tox screen,"

Martha sighed, "Oh well… it was a longshot anyway."

"I'll do some digging," Garcia said, "Just in case."

Martha nodded and turned to Reid, "Um, can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked.

Slowly, Reid nodded, "Of course," he said, "Thanks Garcia." He called over his shoulder as he followed Martha into the hall. Garcia was already lost in her machines once more and barely heard the door shut behind them before she pulled the window she'd been looking at back up and frowned over it as she read.

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><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>Rossi sat across from the Doctor in the conference room, still eyeing the man skeptically. Whoever he was, Rossi was convinced that he knew more than what he was telling them. He leaned back in his chair slightly and folded his arms across his chest.<p>

"So… Dr. Smith," he said slowly, "What exactly are you a doctor of? Medicine?"

"Oh…" the Doctor looked thoughtful and shrugged idly, "This and that. Different things. Bit of everything really."

Rossi frowned, "Where'd you go to school?"

Again, the Doctor pretended to think about it before answering, "Here and there. Everywhere. "

Rossi narrowed his eyes, "Do yourself a favor, Dr. Smith, stop playing games. This is serious."

"Oh I know," the Doctor nodded seriously, "Very serious. Deadly serious. That's why I'm here. You're going to need my help before this is over."

"And why is that?" Prentiss asked as she and Morgan entered the room from behind them. The Doctor turned in his chair to see the newcomers and smiled at them, standing and holding his hand out.

"Dr. John Smith," he introduced himself, "Nice to meet you."

Prentiss and Morgan shook his hand and eyed him skeptically, looking to Rossi with confused frowns on their faces. "Emily Prentiss," Prentiss said, "This is Derek Morgan… and, um, why are you here?"

"Oh, right, sorry. Freelance consultant. Mysterious deaths are sort of my specialty, really. I believe I may be able to help you with this case,"

Morgan pulled out a chair and sat down, studying the Doctor, "A consultant?" he asked, turning to Rossi, "Since when do we hire consultants?"

Rossi shrugged, "Reid insisted," he said, "Hotch agreed…"

The Doctor smiled and nodded, "See, perfectly fine. And trust me, Agent Morgan… If I'm right, you're going to be very happy I showed up. You're way out of your depth here."

Morgan's brows knitted, "Are you saying we don't know what we're doing?" he demanded.

"No, not at all, that's not what I meant," the Doctor said quickly, shaking his head, "I just meant that… well, this is something you haven't seen before. Well, it's probably something you haven't seen before and given the odds, I'd say, definitely, so…" He fumbled for a moment, seeming to try and think of something to say to make Morgan stop glaring at him and was saved a moment later when Hotch and JJ walked into the conference room.

Hotch's eyes went to the Doctor immediately and then to Rossi, "Where's Reid?" he asked, not spotting the younger man anywhere.

"With Garcia and Martha," Rossi said, "He went to see if she found anything with those toxins; he'll be back soon."

Hotch nodded and turned back to face the Doctor, "And you must be Dr. Smith," he said, sweeping his eyes from his head to his feet, frowning when he spotted the Converses he was wearing and immediately thinking of Reid.

"That's me," the Doctor nodded, smiling, "And you'd be Agent Hotchner, yes? The man in charge." He hopped back to his feet and shook Hotch's hand, "Nice to meet you."

Hotch didn't respond and instead stared blankly back at him and the Doctor stood there awkwardly for a minute before turning to JJ, "And you're…"

"Jennifer Jareau," JJ said, shaking his hand and smiling.

The Doctor nodded, "Nice to meet you Jennifer Jareau… Ooh, that's fun to say. Jennifer Jareau," he smiled and JJ laughed gently, shaking her head.

"Where are your credentials?" Hotch asked, staring at the other man. The Doctor fumbled through his coat pocket for a moment, pulling out some small metal looking tool and muttering something under his breath before producing a small black leather wallet and passing it over to the Unit Chief.

"There we are," he said, "All there, black and white. Dr. John Smith, freelance consultant."

Hotch studied it for a moment and then nodded, passing it back to him, "How exactly do you think you can help us here, Dr. Smith?" Credentials or not, the man still hadn't given him any reason to allow him to assist them. What could he provide that they didn't already have?

"Well…" the Doctor seemed a bit reluctant to answer that question and Hotch raised a brow.

"I can answer that," Reid said as he and Martha walked into the room. The Doctor looked relieved to see Martha and smiled at her. Hotch turned around and frowned at his subordinate.

"How?"

Reid glanced back at Martha and then the Doctor, taking a breath when Martha nodded, "Tell him," she said seriously, "They need to know."

"Hold on, Martha," the Doctor frowned, "I thought we agreed it was easier not to tell them,"

Martha sighed, shaking her head, "They're gonna find out eventually, Doctor," she said, "That Garcia woman's already looking into it. I told you, they're FBI, they're going to do their research."

The Doctor sighed, pouting a bit. He'd really hoped to just be able to find the alien, stop it from killing any more girls, send it home or wherever it needed to be and then go on his way. Now he had an entire team of FBI agents getting involved that tended to complicate things. Martha gave him a pointed look and he nodded, "Alright, fine, if we must," he looked to Reid and nodded, "You can tell them."

Reid sighed, looking back at Hotch, "I don't know everything…" he said, "But according to them, we aren't dealing with something human, Hotch. They said whatever's killing these women is alien. And I believe them."

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><p><strong>~DWCM~**

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><p><strong>AN: **I curious, does that count as a cliffhanger? I'm not sure. Doesn't really feel like one, but maybe it is *shrugs*

Anyway, a little iffy about this chapter. I'm not sure if the Doctor was in-character or not *nervously bits lips*

Hope you all enjoyed it! Please don't forget to review!


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: **Beauty, The Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **Another huge thanks to all of the lovely reviews! You guys all get hugs and cookies for being awesome! XD

And now, chapter four! I think I had a little too much fun writing some bits of last chapter… so this chapter maybe I'll kill someone. Yep, sounds like a plan to me, LOL. I'm so twisted. Anyway, hope you enjoy and please review!

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><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

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><p>The air was cold and damp as Anna woke, her head spinning slightly. The last thing she remembered was the woman talking to her, whispering something about sleep and rest. But then, there was nothing. She winced as she cracked her eyes open slowly, looking around the space.<p>

She'd never been here before… never seen anything like it before, really. It was dark, lit with nothing but a few dim lights in the ceiling. The entire room seemed to be made out of some dark metallic product, splotched with age and wear. A few bolts appeared to have come loose from the wall and lay scattered across the floor. There was a large, glowing green screen that stood directly in front of her, its light pulsing slightly.

It was hooked up to a large, imposing machine that was emitting a low hum, whirring in the background, its blinking blue and yellow lights randomly winking in and out of existence.

Anna blinked several times, shaking her head in an attempted to clear the fog from her mind. Where was she? How had she gotten here? What was going on? She tried to reach up and massage her throbbing head and began to panic when she realized that she couldn't move. Frantically looking down her heart sped up as she found herself strapped down tightly to some sort of metal slab, thick steel restraints held her firmly in place.

"Help! Someone! Help!" she screamed and took another breath, biting down on her lip as she heard her own pleas echoing back to her, desperate and terrified. "Is anyone there!" she called, looking around, trying to see behind her, "Help me!"

She heard the faintest click-click of heels coming closer and closer and she took another breath, hope swelling in her chest as she silently prayed that help was coming her way.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" she called, her voice smaller and shakier than it had been a moment ago, "I'm …I'm strapped to some sort of table! Please help me!"

The only response she got was the ever louder click of heels.

_Click-click._

_Click-click._

_Click-click._

Fear was spiking back up inside of her and she licked her lips, "Hello! Can you hear me? Is someone out there? Hello?"

_Click-click._

_Click-click._

_Click-click._

_Click-click._

The sound was getting closer, starting to bounce around the walls, echoing eerily. Anna took another shaky breath and craned her neck, trying once again to see behind her. Her head would only turn a few degrees in either direction and the only thing she could see was the other side of the room and a small sliver of the metal slab she was currently strapped to out of the corner of her eye.

"H-Hello?" she called out one more time, hope dwindling away faster than it had risen. The little hairs on the back of her neck stood on end when she heard the faint, metallic whooshing of an automatic door opening behind her. Suddenly, the heels were right behind her, louder than before.

_Click. Click. Click. Click. Click._

"You're awake!" Anna's eyes widened in shock when she recognized the voice of the woman from before. For some reason, it had never occurred to her that this was who had strapped her down. Some part of her still didn't want to believe that it was true as the woman walked into her line of sight, her heels clicking against the floor.

She was smiling, that same wide, beautiful smile from the night before, her pale hands clasped in front of her, nails shining in the dim light. She was wearing a long, flowing red dress that pooled around her ankles and her hair was done up on her head, making her look like some regal queen from long ago.

"W-What's going on?" Anna asked, "How did we get here? Can you let me down?"

The woman laughed a high tinkling laugh that reverberated off the walls and was amplified in the small space. "Ooh, they always ask the same questions," she smiled, her eyes fixed on Anna's terrified face. "So scared, whimpering and whining and begging. It's so amusing."

Anna frowned, "Wh-What's going on?" she asked again, her voice shaking worse than before.

"Oh, I'm afraid you probably wouldn't understand," the woman said, her light, pretty smile turning suddenly creepy and sinister, "Humans are such simple, dull little creatures."

Anna stared open-mouthed at the woman, completely confused, "What do you mean? A-Are you saying you're not human?"

The woman's smile was patronizing as she walked over to the machine across from Anna and pressed a few buttons, murmuring something under her breath and turning back to face her with a huge grin, "Really, you should be honored. You get to be part of something far more important than yourself and your sad, pathetic excuse for a life,"

Anna swallowed nervously, "What do you mean?" she asked again, "Part of what?"

"Me!" the woman answered cheerily, coming closer to Anna, her heels clicking ominously against the floor. The look in her eyes terrified the teenager and she began to struggle against the restraints, tugging as hard as she could as the woman neared her.

"What are you doing?" she almost squeaked as she struggled, "P-Please, don't hurt me, I'll do whatever you want!"

The woman chuckled, "I'm not going to hurt you," she assured her, placing a hand gently on the girl's face, grasping her chin between her long fingers.

Anna stared at her, her eyes wide, "Y-You're not?" she asked.

Her red lips curved up into another sinister grin, "Well… not much," she shrugged and her eyes flashed, going from blue to fiery red in an instant and she leaned closer, laughing as Anna started to cry.

A moment later the small metal room was filled with the sound unearthly, inhuman screams, bouncing off the walls and seeming to go on forever.

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>There was a heartbeat of silence in the conference room where the team just stood, staring at Reid in shock. Martha seemed to hold her breath, hoping that they didn't immediately decide that they were crazy and throw them out.<p>

"Aliens?" Morgan frowned, "An alien who's murdering teenage girls? What for? Reid, c'mon, that doesn't even make sense."

"It does if you think about it," the Doctor said, popping out of his seat and moving around the room until he was standing by the door, "You can't find any cause of death. Nothing natural or unnatural. Simple poison couldn't do that, could it?"

Rossi shook his head, still looking skeptical, "There are plenty of poisons that don't show up on toxicology reports," he said, "They could have been dosed with any number of chemicals."

"But that's not what happened," Martha said, sounding a little bit desperate to make herself clear, "It bigger than that. There aren't any signs of anything at all. I saw that body in the morgue, she looked completely healthy."

JJ studied them for a moment, "So you immediately jumped to the conclusion of aliens?" she asked.

"Well… not exactly," the Doctor frowned, rubbing the back of his neck for a moment and taking a breath, "We weren't actually supposed to be here… Martha and I, we were headed somewhere else when my, uh, ship, was pulled off course."

Hotch narrowed his eyes, "Your ship?"

"Yeah…" the Doctor nodded slowly, "Complicated. You probably wouldn't understand,"

"Is that what you do?" Prentiss asked, tilting her head, "You said 'mysterious deaths' earlier. You find alien murderers?"

The Doctor pursed his lips, looking thoughtful for a moment, "No, not really. This sort of thing just seems to find _me_. It's not like I go looking for trouble, I don't, I swear, but… trouble just seems to…"

"Find us," Martha nodded, finishing his sentence. "We can't go anywhere without something bad happening."

"Who are you?" Hotch demanded, frowning between the two of them.

"Oh…" the Doctor paused for a moment, "Just travelers, really. Looking for a bit of adventure and excitement."

Rossi remained skeptical, "Travelers? That's it? No jobs, no families? Where are you two from?"

"London," Martha answered immediately, "And I do have a family, back home. My sister Tish, my brother Leo and my mum and dad. I've just been sort of traveling with the Doctor for a while…"

JJ studied them, curiosity lit in her eyes, "So you two are together?"

"What? No," Martha balked, shaking her and feeling her face heat slightly as she glanced back at the Doctor, who looked equally as shocked and embarrassed, much to her displeasure. "Just… friends, traveling together. That's all. Nothing else."

"Right," the Doctor nodded, "Friends. Travel buddies. Hardly know her, actually…" he paused for a moment before continuing, changing the subject entirely, "But that's not important. What _is_ important is that there is an alien here; somewhere in this city and for some reason it's killing these girls. And I can help you find them and stop it."

Morgan frowned and turned back to Reid, "And you believe him?" he asked, "You believe an alien is murdering people here? C'mon, kid, it's one thing for them to show up in some spaceship and try to invade the earth and even that's hard enough to believe; what would an alien get by killing girls?"

Reid sighed, shaking his head, "But he makes sense," he said, "Think about it. We don't have _anything _to go on. The victimology isn't concrete, there's no motive… We don't even have a cause of death!"

Hotch frowned and turned his attention back to the Doctor, "How can you help?"

The Doctor grinned wide. He was in, he knew it. The Unit Chief was hard to read, but he was definitely a man willing to do whatever it took so stop a killer and the Doctor could see the faintest traces of belief behind his dark eyes.

"First, can we go back to the morgue? I didn't get a chance to properly examine the body,"

Reid frowned, "But the ME didn't find anything that could've caused her death. Her heart just stopped," he said.

"Well, the Medical Examiner wasn't me," the Doctor said, "Let me have a go at it; maybe I'll find something more useful."

Hotch was silent for a moment the rest of the team let him think. It was his call, after all, whether or not the Doctor would be allowed to help them. Finally, he nodded, "Reid, go with him," he said, "Morgan, go talk to Garcia and see if she found anything new with the toxins. And have her look for anything she can find on aliens."

Morgan raised a brow and nodded as he left the conference room, thinking this had to be the most unusual search they'd ever had Garcia do for them in all the years that she'd been working with them.

Hotch paused for a moment and closed his eyes, "Rossi, Prentiss, JJ… Let's see what we can find from victimology. Alien or not, whatever killed these girls, picked them for a reason. We need to figure out what."

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>The steady rhythm of Garcia's fingers on the keyboard could be heard as Morgan tapped lightly on her office door and pushed it open, smiling as he spotted the blond tech hard at work, her eyes squinted behind her glasses as she read.<p>

"Hey, Baby Girl," he said, coming up behind her and laying a hand on the back of her chair.

She gasped and whirled around in her seat, one of her hands flying to her chest as she glared up at him, "Derek Morgan, how many times am I going to have to tell you not to sneak up on me when I'm in the zone?" she demanded, "You're going to give me a heart attack one day."

Morgan chuckled and shook his head, "And we don't want that," he said, "Sorry. Hotch wanted to know if you had anything more on the toxins?"

"No," she shook her head, spinning around, "I told Reid already; there's not much to find, really; I sent that list over to the medical examiner's office so she can test for those specific toxins, but it's not likely…" she trailed off for a minute, turning back to her monitors and frowning in concentration.

"But… I did find some interesting things about those mystery consultants," she said, "I was just about to call Hotch."

Morgan leaned down behind her to get a clearer look at the screen, "Right, Dr. Smith and Martha," he said, "Apparently, they think it's an alien that's killing these women."

Garcia turned to look at him for a moment before nodding, "So I'm not crazy," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Martha Jones was easy enough to find. She's a former UNIT employee – apparently medical officer. She's got two siblings. Parents are divorced, mother's still single. And until recently her father was dating a 28 year old named Annalise Dillinger. Married to a… Mickey Smith. Hmm… that funny, she wasn't wearing a ring, was she?"

Morgan shook his head slowly, thinking back. He was still somewhat amazed at what Garcia could find on her computers if she dug deep enough. He was terrified of the things she could find on him if she were to ever look. Luckily, he knew she wouldn't betray him or anyone on the team that way, but if Garcia ever decided she wanted to take over the world, she was only a few keystrokes away from total domination.

"She said her name was Jones, not Smith… What about the man?" he asked, "Dr. Smith?"

Garcia pulled up a few pages, frowning slightly, "That's where things get a little trickier. John Smith, that's what he said his name was. You have no idea how common that name is, by the way, until you've run a search for men with doctorates who go by that name. But I pulled up some interesting results… To start with, the name John Smith goes back years. Following all kinds of strange things and when you compare that to things I found under 'doctor'… He's everywhere."

Morgan frowned, "What do you mean, 'everywhere'?" he asked.

"I mean, literally, everywhere. The name crops up farther back than Victorian England. I even came across a few files I couldn't break into and we both know how rare that is. He keeps cropping up though, Dr. John Smith, John Smith… And then there's just The Doctor. And he's been around… well, forever, really."

"The Doctor?" Morgan frowned, "Funny, that's what Martha called him, she never said Dr. Smith…"

Garcia nodded, "That's what he's called. This Doctor, whoever he is, his name isn't John Smith. He doesn't even have a name, but there are documents and reports and photos and memoires and old diaries that recount stories of a mysterious man who called himself 'The Doctor'. He always seems to pop up when something bad is happening…"

"Bad how?"

Garcia pressed her lips together, "Bad like what happened with those metal men a few years ago. Remember that? That all started at Canary Wharf in London. It's not easy to get into the records, other than lists of the dead and _that _was depressing, but there were some documents still intact and one of them talked about the Doctor. Aaaand, get this, you remember Harold Saxon, right? The Prime Minister who went crazy and killed the president with those Toclafane things? There's even evidence that the Doctor was there too,"

Morgan frowned and straightened up, staring at the computer screen, "Got any pictures?"

"A few," Garcia said, "But the quality isn't great. The best I have is this, it was taken a few Christmases ago when all those people were on the roof and that space probe sent back pictures of aliens," she hit a few keys and pulled the picture up, "It was taken right after the ship left London."

The picture was grainy, maybe taken on someone's cell phone, Morgan guessed, but he was one hundred percent certain it was the same man. He was wearing a bathrobe and pajamas, his face turned partially away, but there was no mistaking him.

He frowned, "That's him," he said quietly, studying the picture with narrowed eyes, muttering more to himself than to Garcia. "Dr. Smith… who the hell are you?"

* * *

><p><strong>~DWCM~**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: ***grumbles* This chapter… Oh it gave me so much trouble. I rewrote parts of it a couple of times and I'm still not sure I'm 100% happy with it.

Also… since I'm NOT doing math when I don't absolutely need to, I only said a few years and a few Christmases ago because I realized that if this is 2011, then all the stuff with Rose would've been at least 4 or 5 years ago for the rest of the world, even if, for the Doctor (and Martha too I guess) it's only been about a year or two.

**IMPORTANT: **I rewrote the last section of this chapter after **KMW1968** pointed out that despite the fact that this is set in series 3 of Doctor Who, all the things that transpired through 2011 for the Doctor would have already happened, meaning Martha got her medical license, worked for UNIT and Torchwood, left and married Mickey. Also, the President of the USA was murdered on live TV by Harold Saxon (aka the Master) and also the incident in The Stolen Earth with the Daleks. Which does mean that some of the team's skepticism seems odd in retrospect, so I've ended up rewriting some parts to make it more realistic. Sorry for the mistake, I'm doing everything I can to make the two shows merge as compatibly and realistically as possible.

I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please, please let me know what you think! Your opinions mean the world to me guys!

Don't forget to review!


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: **Beauty, The Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **Thanks so much once again for all of the wonderful reviews! And of course, thanks to those of you who added this to alerts and favorites! Your support means the world to me guys!

Now, chapter five! Things really start to happen here (I know, it took me 5 chapters to really get there, but, eh, the first four were necessary)

Read and (hopefully) enjoy!

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><p><strong>Beauty, the Beast<strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter Five<strong>

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><p>Dr. Dreier looked up, surprise flickering on her face when Reid, Martha and the Doctor entered the morgue, the Doctor looking around the space as if he'd never been there, curiosity lingering in his eyes.<p>

"Back already?" she asked, straightening up and pulling aside her mask, tossing it onto her metal work tray. The body of a young man lay on the slab in front of her, a nasty gash on his temple.

Martha winced as she eyed the wound, shaking her head, "Someone hit him a bit hard…" she noted, feeling somewhat sad when she looked at his face and realized that he couldn't possibly have been more than a couple of years older than she herself.

Dr. Dreier nodded absently, looking back at the young man, "Bar fight last night," she explained, "He was hit in the side of the head with a beer bottle, nearly cracked his skull from what I can tell." She tore off her glove and put her hands on her hips, looking at the three people confusedly.

"What can I do for you?" she asked, "I don't have any new information for you; you haven't even been gone three hours."

"I wanted another look at the body," the Doctor said, "Just a quick peek, I won't be long."

Dr. Dreier raised a brow, walking towards the large metal freezer-drawers where the bodies were stored. "I already told you, Dr. Smith, I completed a full autopsy. There's nothing physically wrong with her, or any of the victims, for that matter."

"Aside from the fact that she's dead," Reid pointed out as she pulled Caryl's body back out of its drawer, reaching forward for a moment and gently brushing her pale fingers across the dead girl's cheek.

"Yes, aside from that," she nodded, frowning when the Doctor slid on his glasses and pulled out a small, metal object. Reid had seen it before, he realized. The man had pulled it out while in search of his "badge" earlier.

Martha moved closer to the body, another pang of sadness as she eyed her pale, blue-ish skin. Her eyes were closed and the autopsy incisions had been sewn shut, slightly redder than the rest of her skin, the trademark "Y" prominent on her torso.

"She's younger than I am," she whispered, glancing at the Doctor as he held his Sonic Screwdriver close to the dead body and the mechanical whirring filled the morgue.

Reid frowned, taking a few steps closer and walking around to the opposite side of the slab, watching the Doctor in fascination. "What is _that_?" he asked, nodding toward the screwdriver as the Doctor scanned the girl's body.

The Doctor glanced up at the young man over the edge of his glasses, "Hm? Oh… Sonic Screwdriver," he said, lifting it up and displaying it for a moment, "I'm doing a medical scan."

Reid raised a brow, shaking his head. At this point, he figured he'd believe almost anything the Doctor told him. Time travel, alien murderers, psychic paper… Now he had a sonic screwdriver that apparently did medical scans. What was next, a ray gun? He almost snorted to himself, but the sight of Caryl's cold, lifeless form stopped him.

After a moment, the Doctor frowned, examining his screwdriver, hmm-ing a couple times as his brows scrunched behind his glasses and he straightened up, slipping both the sonic screwdriver and his glasses back into his pocket.

"That's strange," he said, glancing up at Reid.

"What?" Martha asked, frowning at him and looking back at the body. As far as she could tell, there was nothing wrong with the girl. Nothing physically, at least. The only bruises she had were on her wrists and ankles from being restrained for whatever reason.

"It's as if… the life was drained right out of her," he said, frowning, his eyes distant. Martha recognized that look. It was like he was trying to piece together a puzzle, but he didn't have all the pieces yet and he wasn't quite sure what the picture was supposed to be when it was finished.

"What do you mean by that?" Reid frowned, watching the Doctor's face.

The Doctor was silent for a moment, running a hand through his hair, "It means… someone is literally taking these girls' lives. Something like that has to take an awful lot of power…" he trailed off for a moment, brows still drawn together before suddenly he straightened up, "But I might just have a way to find it!" he exclaimed.

Without pausing or looking back, the Doctor hurried out of the morgue once more. Martha sighed, shaking her and looking back at Reid's confused face.

"Sorry…" she said, "He does that."

Reid shrugged, not entire bothered by it. He turned to Dr. Dreier, "Thank you, again, Doctor," he said before looking back at Martha, "Come on. Whatever your friend's thinking, I get the feeling we probably shouldn't leave him alone for too long."

Martha laughed gently, "You'd probably be right about that, Dr. Reid,"

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><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>Garcia sighed heavily as she muttered to herself, rummaging through internet files and sealed documents. She was trying to find anything and everything she could find that was legitimate information about aliens and deaths possibly linked to them, but that was nearly impossible to do. She'd never really paid much attention to the UFO freaks and "abductees" who claimed to have been taken aboard spaceships and probed, but there were a <em>lot <em>of them and they had cluttered the internet with their stories of little grey men with big black eyes and pointy metal objects…

It made it extremely difficult to find the tiny grains of truth scattered sparsely out there in hidden files, but she retraced the documents she had on the Doctor and found surprisingly well supported information.

She heard her door open and glanced over her should, smiling when she saw Kevin enter the room with a fresh cup of coffee in her favorite brightly colored mug. "Hey, babe," she greeted him, taking the offered cup.

The other analyst, today dressed in a bright orange paisley shirt and clashing, plaid yellow tie, smiled and pushed his glasses up his nose, leaning down to give the blond woman a quick kiss. "Thought you might need a caffeine boost," he said, "I heard you guys got a big mystery to crack this time."

Garcia chuckled, "Don't lie, Kevin, you heard about the mystery and wanted an excuse to find out what it is," she pursed her painted purple lips and smiled at her boyfriend.

"Can you blame me?" he asked, "Three deaths with no apparent cause and no evidence to go on? That's like the forensic equivalent of someone being bludgeoned in a locked room."

"Totally possible!" Garcia said, spinning around in her chair, sitting her coffee far away from her babies on a small, rubber cup holder. "I can give you the entire play-by-play on how to do it… But this case is actually far more mysterious than girls dropping dead for no reason."

Kevin raised a brow and glanced at her computer screens, leaning over her should and squinting at it. "Torchwood?" he frowned, "What the heck is that?"

Garcia shrugged, "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say something to do with secretive alien combat… Everything I've tried to open with Torchwood classifications won't let me through." She huffed and made a face at the screen.

"But that's not what I'm talking about," she hit a few keys on the keyboard and suddenly a new webpage opened up, displaying the grainy photograph of "The Doctor" that she'd shown Morgan earlier and underneath it photos of various aliens and spaceships that he'd allegedly been spotted near.

Kevin's eyes shot to a photograph of a particularly gruesome looking alien and his mouth fell open slightly, "…Aliens?" he asked, his voice squeaking slightly.

Garcia nodded, "Aliens. This sick puppy is called a Sycorax… at least that's what this site says they called themselves. It's hard to tell what's true and what's not," she sighed, glancing back up at Kevin, "We're looking into the possibility that whatever killed out victims wasn't human at all, but so far I can't make much out of this information, it all pretty much screams science fiction."

Kevin looked thoughtful for a moment, "Come on, Pen, you know aliens are at least plausible. Given the last few years I'd say it's even likely. Aliens are definitely out there, watching us. Who says they can't have serial killers and psychos just like we do?"

She smiled, taking his hand and squeezing it for a second, "And _that _is why I love you," she said brightly.

Kevin blushed and looked down for a moment, before looking back at the screens… "If you want to have accurate information why not contact UNIT?" he asked, "They'd be able to give you whatever you wanted."

Garcia smiled, shaking her head, "UNIT wouldn't help the little 'ole BAU because we _think _we have an alien serial killer," she said.

Kevin look unconvinced, "I don't know, Penny, how can they say no to you? Besides, if it really does turn out to be some E.T. killer, UNIT will probably stick their noses in it sooner or later."

She chuckled, nodding, "Alright, I'll try then. That Martha Jones used to work with them, maybe she can get us in," she glanced down at her keyboard, "And you should probably get back to work. Don't want Hotch to come in here and catch us 'fraternizing'."

At the mention of Hotch's name, Kevin immediately became tense, awkwardly pushing his glasses back up his nose and nodded, bending down once more to give Garcia a sweet kiss. "How 'bout a late lunch?" he suggested as he started to leave.

She thought about it and smiled, "We'll see, I'll text you."

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>Hotch frowned over a file, shaking his head as he stared at the inconclusive autopsy report. He'd been standing there for so long that the rest of the team was partly convinced he'd actually turned to stone but then he suddenly straightened up, turning to look back at them.<p>

"So what we have is four abductions," he said, "Three unnatural deaths without apparent cause and the only correlation between our victims is that they're young women."

Prentiss nodded, folding her arms across her chest, "Yeah," she said, "That pretty much it."

JJ frowned, "And we have two 'consultants' who appeared out of nowhere, claiming it's aliens," she added.

Hotch nodded and Morgan continued, "And we don't know who this Doctor guy really is, but apparently he's got a habit of showing up when things like this happen."

"So where does that leave us?" Hotch frowned, "Do we think they're part of this? Or what?"

JJ shifted slightly, "Reid trusts them," she pointed out, "That means something."

Hotch had to admit she was right about that. Reid wasn't a naturally untrusting person, but it usually took time to earn his trust, he didn't just trust people blindly. The mere fact that he believed the Doctor and Martha gave them added merit they otherwise wouldn't have had.

Prentiss nodded, "And they sounded like they knew what they were talking about," she added, "What if he's some kind of government agent… Like with UNIT or something. Maybe he's working undercover."

Rossi raised a brow, "Seems a bit far-fetched doesn't it?"

Prentiss almost laughed, shaking her head, "No more far-fetched than alien serial killers," she told him.

"Garcia did say that Martha used to work with UNIT..." Morgan pointed out. "So that theory's not really so unbelievable when you think about it."

Hotch glanced back at the file, "We need something. We're missing some variable. What is this UnSub after? Alien or human, they have to be after something. What's causing them to kill?"

"If it is alien, maybe they're not after anything." JJ suggested.

"Even an alien serial killer is still a serial killer," Hotch shook his head, "There's something. If it's killing because it wants to, then there's something about these women that connects them and we're missing it. Maybe it's killing because it needs something or because it wants something…" he trailed off, not sure where he was going with that thought. What could an alien need or want that it could get from young girls?

"Or maybe it's hiding," Rossi suggested, "After all, even if aliens have attacked us before, if it's alone it wouldn't want anyone to know it's an alien. Maybe they saw something they shouldn't have."

"But why abduct them and keep them for 24 hours?" Morgan asked, "What's it doing to them in that time?"

They looked at each other, theories still as blank as they had been before they'd considered something extraterrestrial. Prentiss glanced at her watch, biting her lip. "Maybe they found something at the morgue," she said hopefully, looking back up, "Anna's only got hours left. If we're lucky…"

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><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>Reid and Martha exited the morgue to find the Doctor already in the SUV, sitting behind the wheel. Martha raised a brow and anxiously slid into the backseat as Reid climbed into the passenger side, still wearing his sunglasses.<p>

"You're gonna drive?" she asked skeptically. She'd never seen the Doctor drive before. Unless piloting the TARDIS counted as driving… And if it did, she wasn't really sure she wanted to know what he could do behind the wheel of a car. She buckled her seatbelt and made sure it was secure for good measure.

"'Course I am, what's wrong with that?"

Martha smiled faintly, "Oh, nothing, just hope you do a better job with a car than you do with the TARDIS."

"Oi!" The Doctor frowned, glancing at her in the rearview mirror, "I do a brilliant job piloting her! She just gets a bit queasy sometimes, that's all. Besides, if everything was all smooth sailing it wouldn't half as fun, would it?"

Martha laughed, shaking her head. He had he there. If she'd learned anything from traveling with him it was that the more unpredictable and unstable things were, the more fun it seemed to be. Especially for him. He seemed to thrive off of it.

"So," the Doctor turned to Reid, "You don't think your boss'll mind, do you?"

Reid thought about that for a moment and shook his head, passing the keys to the Doctor's waiting hands, "Probably. But as long as you don't crash it, I won't have to tell him."

The Doctor grinned wide as he turned the keys in the ignition, "I couldn't agree more. Let's not crash today, eh?"

Martha smiled, laughing and leaning forward as they took off down the street, "So where are we going?" she asked.

"Back to the TARDIS," he told her, "I may be able to runs some scans, there's was residual energy clinging to her body, if I can trace that back to the source I can find out what killed her."

Reid pulled out his cellphone, "I need to call Hotch and let him know…" he started to dial the number when a particularly painful stab jolted him and his fingers seemed to go numb around the phone as he gasped and used his free hand to clutch his head, massaging his temple.

"Are you alright?" Martha asked, scooting up farther in her seat, undoing her seatbelt. She eyed the young man in concern but he waved it off.

"I'm fine," his voice was strained as he answered her, "Just a headache."

Martha pursed her lips, unconvinced. She reached up and gently turned his head towards her, ignoring the way he stiffened slightly at her touch and tried to jerk away. She pulled the sunglasses off and he squinted against the light, pupils dilating as his head throbbed more painfully than before.

She held him still, keenly looking into his eyes, fingers of her hand pressing gently into his temple, "Were you hit on the head recently? No sign of concussion…" she frowned.

"No, it's just headache."

"A migraine?" she asked, raising a brow, "Dr. Reid, you've had this headache all day. Haven't you taken any medication? Why not go home and rest?"

"I'm _fine_," Reid insisted, his voice a bit harsher than he intended. The Doctor glanced over at him, surprised by his tone.

"You don't look fine," he said, quirking a brow. "How long have you had this headache?"

Reid shrugged, "A day, maybe," he winced, glanced down at his watch, "27 hours and fifteen minutes."

Martha and the Doctor met eyes briefly and she looked back at Reid, "Is this the first time you have a headache like this?"

Reid shook his head, "No, it's been a few months. I've been to the doctor before you ask…" his voice was somewhat bitter, "They all say there's nothing wrong."

"Obviously, they're not looking hard enough," Martha said, "Because this is not normal. You should be at home, resting."

Reid made a face and turned away from her, slipping his sunglasses back on and staring straight forward, "I'm fine," he repeated, "It's a headache, that's all. I'll just have to deal with it; they always pass. …Eventually."

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><p><strong>~DWCM~**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So… not entirely sure about this chapter. But I *like* it.

Poor Reid… I just really want to know what's going on with his headaches, so… yeah. Focusing on 'em a lot more than I probably should. But who knows, maybe it'll be important ;)

Anyway, I feel like the team's just standing around. It's bothering me that I can't find anything really productive for them to do…

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: **Beauty, the Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **Thanks so much for all of the lovely reviews guys! I heart you! You guys are simply amazing XD

And now, onto chapter six! Woot! I had a lot of fun writing this first bit :) Reid *finally* sees the TARDIS. Yay!

Please review!

* * *

><p><strong>Beauty, the Beast<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong>

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><p>Reid was grateful that his headache seemed to be tapering off some as the Doctor pulled the SUV off the road and parked next to a small alley. At least now he could focus his thoughts and maybe actually pay attention to the matter at hand. Which, at the moment, appeared to be a wooden, blue police box.<p>

Martha, who was immensely relieved to find out that the Doctor knew his way around a car and hadn't hit any innocent pedestrians on the drive over, watched the young FBI agent carefully as they entered the alley.

"What do you think about them?" she asked, keeping her voice low so Reid couldn't hear. "The BAU, I mean?"

The Doctor looked thoughtful for a moment, "Good people doing a terrible job and they can still worry about each other like they're family? I'd say that's the best we can ask for when we're chasing down an extraterrestrial murderer."

Martha raised a brow, "What do you mean they worry about each other like family?" she asked, glancing up at the Doctor curiously.

"What, you didn't notice how worried that Rossi bloke was when Dr. Reid said he had a headache earlier?" he asked, looking toward the younger man who was waiting for them as the mouth of the alley.

Martha thought about it for a moment, nodding, "I suppose so," she agreed, then a faint smile crossed her lips. "Agent Rossi doesn't like you very much, you know."

The Doctor made a face, "I noticed, he's suspicious and so is Agent Hotchner."

"What about Agent Morgan?" Martha added, "He doesn't trust us either. And Agent Prentiss seemed a little skeptical."

The Doctor sighed, "They _are_ trained federal agents for the United States' government. Can't say I'm surprised they don't trust us much, but they'll come around. If we're lucky, it won't matter anyway, we'll find whatever it is killing these girls, stop it and be on our way."

Martha looked skeptical, "We're never that lucky, Doctor,"

He smiled, "Don't you just love it?"

Martha couldn't help but return his smile before her eyes once again slid back to where Dr. Reid was lightly massaging his temples. Despite the fact that it was fairly dark in the alley's entrance, he was still wearing his sunglasses. She frowned worriedly, "What do you think made him trust us?"

The Doctor followed her gaze and his brown eyes got somber, "Dunno, I'm just glad he did. This would've been far more difficult if he hadn't…"

There was some strange catch in his voice that wasn't lost to Martha. She frowned, "Do you know what's wrong with him? What's causing the headaches, I mean?"

The Doctor blinked, frowned and shook his head, "Haven't got a clue," he said, his voice forcefully cheerful. He clapped his hands together and practically skipped down the sidewalk to where Reid was standing, "Now, let's see if we can find ourselves a killer, shall we?"

Reid frowned, watching as the Doctor and Martha made their way to the Police Box and the Doctor slipped a key inside. The young agent raised a brow, "What are you going to do inside of a Police Box from the 50s?" he asked.

The Doctor's grin widened, his eyes sparkling, "You remember my ship, the one I told you about earlier?"

Reid nodded, resting a hand curiously on the side of the box, feeling the warm, world worn wood. "Your TARDIS," he said.

The Doctor nodded his head toward the wooden box, "Here she is," he said, patting the side of the TARDIS affectionately as he turned the small key in the door.

Reid's brows scrunched together as he studied the box, "_This _is a time machine?"

Martha smiled, "That's what I said," she told him. "Just wait until you see the inside."

Reid raised a brow curiously as Martha and the Doctor gave him knowing, secretive smiles and pushed the doors open, stepping inside. He hesitated outside for a moment, certain that there wasn't enough room inside the small blue box to fit three people. _Two _people would've had a hard time fitting inside comfortably; there was no way there was room for him. A second later, Martha poked her head out, still smiling.

"Are you coming or what?" she asked.

Reid hesitated for a moment and nodded, stepping around the side and following Martha inside. His eyes widened behind his sunglasses and his mouth fell open slightly as he stared at the impossible sight. Slowly, he reached up and pulled his sunglasses off, blinking around at the huge, amazing space.

It seemed to take him a moment to remember how to form words and sentences into coherent thoughts. "This… can't be real…"

The Doctor was grinning at him, leaning against the console with a spark in his eyes. Martha recognized it as the same way he'd looked when she had first walked into the TARDIS. He loved showing off, she realized. He was practically glowing as Reid took a cautious step forward, apparently convinced that he was hallucinating everything. He lifted his hands to touch one of the columns, hazel eyes wide as he slid his long fingers over its surface.

"It's real, trust me."

Reid shook his head in awe, "How?" he demanded, "How is this possible? How does all of …_this…_" he motioned wildly around them to the TARDIS control room, "fit inside a small wooden police box?"

The Doctor smirked, "Well telling you that would take all the mystery out of it, now wouldn't it?" he teased, turning toward the controls and slipping his glasses on, squinting at the screen as he busily began pushing buttons.

Reid raised a brow and stepped slowly further inside, looking around the massive interior. "…This isn't human technology, is it?" he asked, "It can't be."

Martha and the Doctor shared a brief look before the Doctor shrugged, turning his eyes back to the monitor, "No, it's alien."

Reid frowned, finally stepping up to the console, staring around at the buttons and knobs and levers, brows knitting together when he realized that it was more a mesh of cobbled together spare parts than an actual control panel. He looked back at the Doctor and moved to look at the screen, which was displaying a long sequence of circular-like symbols that he couldn't understand.

"What kind of alien technology?" he asked, "How did you get it?"

The Doctor was quiet for a minute, studying the symbols on the screen. "Stole it… Well, borrowed it. I was gonna take it back, I swear, but…" he trailed off and Martha raised a brow. His tone had been about as sincere as a five year old who'd gotten caught stealing cookies.

Reid looked unconvinced, "How'd you steal it?" he asked, "From where? Who built this?"

"It wasn't built," the Doctor explained, "The TARDIS was grown. She's alive. Living technology…" A wistful smile traced his lips and he looked up and around the space, "She's beautiful, isn't she?"

The FBI agent tilted his head, glancing at Martha questioningly. "It's a living space ship and time machine?" he asked.

"Yes,"

He sighed heavily, "From where?" he demanded again.

The Doctor promptly ignored the question and Reid stepped closer, his hazel eyes bright with determination, "Doctor," he said slowly, "I trusted you. I told my team that I trust you and I didn't have to."

A small look of guilt passed over the Doctor's face and he sighed, shaking his head. "It's a long story…"

Reid eyed him carefully, silent for a moment as the Doctor squinted between the monitor and his sonic screwdriver.

"You're not human,"

The quiet statement startled Martha, who'd been watching the Doctor work in silence. She glanced worriedly at her companion and saw something like sadness or maybe even regret in the Doctor's eyes before he nodded slowly.

"No,"

"Where are you from?"

"Far away,"

"What planet?"

"Doesn't matter,"

"Why are you here?"

"Long story,"

Reid huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, "You're not going to tell me anything, are you?"

The Doctor didn't respond for a moment and then his features lit up and he nearly jumped for joy, "Bingo! We have a winner!" He smiled brightly and leaned closer to the screen, murmuring to himself.

"Doctor what is it?" Martha asked, "Have you found it?"

"…Yes and no," the Doctor said, leaning up and pulling his glasses off, "There were traces of Silconian energy on the girl's body, but it's not enough to trace back to the source… Still, now we know what we're after."

"And that would be?" Reid frowned, looking at the screen and wondering exactly what language it was that the monitor was showing.

The Doctor's face turned grim for a moment, "An Aphrontian. It's an alien race from the planet Silcone in the Greagine Galaxy… Wherever they are, they're a long ways from home."

Martha frowned, "What do they do? What's that energy got to do with it?"

The Doctor paused for a moment, hesitating, "Best to tell everyone together. We'll have to catch it soon; otherwise this entire country is in danger…"

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>Reid was standing nervously with his arms crossed as the Doctor explained how he'd found residual energy on the girl's body and why that was important. He could see skepticism on all of their faces, except perhaps JJ would seemed fairly open to the idea.<p>

It had been a stretch for them to believe that their killer might be extraterrestrial, even with all the things happening lately. Aliens over London, spaceships, even the supposed hoax several years ago when a spaceship crashed into Big Ben. There seemed to be a lot of evidence that aliens were real, and in fact it had been a topic of conversation amongst the team in their downtime.

Reid, of course, firmly believed that there was life out there, JJ seemed to as well, Prentiss had been more on the fence. Morgan and Rossi were both incredibly skeptical – "If they are real, why are they targeting London? What's so special about them?". It was asking a lot for them to accept the possibility of aliens killing people when they weren't all entirely sure they believed that all the recent "alien" activity was real.

"So, this alien is called an Aphrontian. It's using a machine to literally drain the life out of the victims, sucking out all of the potential energy in their bodies."

Hotch quirked a brow, "How does it drain their energy?"

The Doctor paused, frowning, "Ah, well, it's a bit… complicated, really. The Aphrontians are very secretive, they don't like to share their technology –"

Martha sighed, "You don't know then?"

"Well… no. Not really, anyway. I know in _theory_, but I've never actually seen one of their machines up close… It must be massive though. At least now we know why we were pulled off course Martha. A machine like that generates a lot of energy, just to steal it. It's notoriously difficult to siphon another living creature's energy. Unless of course your species evolves just to do that and the Aphrontians haven't."

The team listened to all of this with blank faces, not entirely following the Doctor's rapid and confusing explanation. They were immediately reminded of Reid when he went on one of his rambles. Reid, on the other hand, looked vaguely fascinated.

"Are you saying there are species that _have _evolved to drain others' energy?"

"Of course!" the Doctor nodded, "Haven't you heard of vampires? Where do you think those myths come from?"

Reid looked like he was about to say something when Hotch cut him off, "So, if this is true, how do we catch him?"

The Doctor pursed his lips, "Difficult to say, really. Aphrontians don't _usually _steal other peoples' energy. They siphon their own away a little at a time. I've never heard of them using the machines to _kill _someone."

"So…" Prentiss frowned, "What do they use the energy for?"

"Oh, it's one hell of a healer," the Doctor explained. "They donate it, like the way you donate blood. They give it to sick patients, it heals them faster than any medicine would."

"Then maybe this alien is sick," JJ suggested, "Maybe their using the energy to heal themselves."

"Can't be," The Doctor shook his head, "Siphoning energy from three people? They'd have been healed five times over by now, even with the most debilitating diseases. No, they're using the energy for something else."

"What then?" Martha frowned, "If it's taking all these girls' energy, there's got to me some reason. What else does the energy do?"

"It heals them, fixes them," The Doctor said, "That's all I know anyhow."

Reid frowned, "But… the Aphrontian that's killing these girls isn't injured or sick and is stealing their energy and using it himself… What would the energy do for someone who was perfectly healthy?" His brows scrunched together in thought and the Doctor chewed his lip for a moment before his eyes got wide and he suddenly jumped up.

"Of course!" he smacked himself in the head, "How could I miss it!"

"Miss what?" Rossi frowned, raising a brow at the other man.

"The energy heals, it repairs, it mends! But it's also like a sort of… elixir of life? No, that's not quite right…" he frowned, trying to put into words what he was thinking.

Reid's eyes lit up, "Wait, you said the energy was produced over time, so, it wears away, right? It gets used up and replaced as they age."

"Exactly!" The Doctor grinned nodding excitedly, "And if they just kept adding more energy on top of their own –"

"They'd never age!"

"Perfect! Spencer Reid, you are brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" The Doctor was practically giddy with his excitement when the door to the conference room opened and Garcia entered, pale and sad looking.

"They just found another body. It's Anna,"

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><p><strong>~DWCM~**

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><p><strong>AN: **Was it wrong of me to end it there? *shrugs* Oh well. Don't worry, I'll actually get to explaining things more next chapter. So, Reid in the TARDIS huh? God I loved writing that scene XD

Anyway, sorry this chapter was later than usual. You may blame my dear friend Laura, for I was somewhat distracted by "Torchwood" and "Sherlock" and it's ALL HER FAULT. :P

Hope you enjoyed this… Now I'm off to go imagine Reid and the Doctor kissing… *sighs* I can be such a fangirl sometimes.

Please review!


	7. Chapter 7

**Title: **Beauty, the Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **First, thanks so much to all of you wonderful readers and reviewers! You're amazing and I love you.

Second, my apologies for this being so late. I've had… a seriously insane and rough week this past week.

And now, onwards to chapter seven! (Yes, I also know that the whump I've promised isn't here yet. Just be a bit patient. It shall arrive shortly… I think)

And please review! Your opinions mean the world to me ;)

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><p><strong>Beauty, the Beast<strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

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><p>The team gathered around Anna's body. It was late, the streetlamps providing most of the light. She'd been left at a bus station, fully clothed, eyes still open wide, deathly pale. Her bag and cell phone were still missing. Reid knelt next to the body and gently lifted her hand, examining the bruising around her wrists. He heard faint murmurs from above him and looked up to see Martha slipping on a pair of gloves and kneeling across from him.<p>

She smiled faintly and turned her attention to Anna's head. Her hair was splayed out around her face and her lips were parted slightly, tinged a faint blue. Reaching out, Martha narrowed her eyes and pulled Anna's face a bit closer.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say she was asphyxiated," she said.

Reid frowned, "What?"

"Look here," she pointed her finger toward Anna's open eyes, "There's petechial hemorrhaging around her eyes and the tinge of her skin is consistent with asphyxiation."

Reid slid closer and frowned, "None of the other victims had those signs," he said quietly, "But there's no sign of strangulation and she's dry so drowning is unlikely…."

Suddenly the Doctor appeared at his other side, glasses on, holding his sonic screwdriver in his hands. There was a faint whirring noise as the screwdriver lit up and the Doctor traced it down the length of her body.

"Sorry, what's that?" Prentiss frowned, raising a brow at the tool. The Doctor didn't even look up, continuing with his scan. Martha sighed, shaking her head and turning to look up at the agents.

"It's his… sonic screwdriver. Does all sorts of things, really. Opens doors, mostly. And sometimes it does medical scans,"

Hotch frowned and Morgan took a step forward, his own frown more of a scowl, "Who the hell are you people?" he demanded.

This time the Doctor did look up, blinking behind his glasses, mouth hanging open slightly, "We told you. I'm the Doctor and this is –"

"Not your names," Morgan shook his head, "Who are you? Really?"

"Morgan," Reid started to tell him to just drop it. Really, what did it matter if they were helping them find this killer?

"Garcia did a search online," Morgan continued, frowning at the man, "She found a lot of interesting stuff about you two, Doctor."

"Well, you can't believe everything you read on the internet, can you?" the Doctor shrugged, appearing unbothered by Morgan's scowl. But Martha looked increasingly uncomfortable and shot the Doctor a warning look. It was probably a bad idea to be sarcastic when the FBI agent glaring at them was carrying a Glock at his side.

Rossi stepped forward then, frowning down at the skinny man, "She found photographs of you just beneath the spaceship that was over London a few years ago. And there were mentions of you at Canary Wharf when those and Cyber-ghosts showed up. Care to explain that?"

Reid frowned, glancing at the Doctor, who had suddenly gone very rigid, his large eyes distant before he shook his head. "It's not important," he said, his voice tight. Martha recognized that voice. Any minute now the Doctor was going to blow.

"Not important?" Morgan scowled, "Do you know how many people died that day! And you were there, right in the middle of it."

The Doctor rose to his feet, something terrifying in his eyes, "It's _not _important. I work very hard not to look back on bad days, Agent Morgan and I'm not going to do it for you. Yes, I _was _there that day but if I hadn't been a lot more people would've died. I stopped it!"

Rossi narrowed his eyes, "You stopped it?"

"Yes, I stopped it. And I can stop these girls from dying too if you'll let me. But you humans are all the same. You think you know everything and when something you don't understand smacks you in the face you look for someone to blame. Well guess what, it's not me. And if you don't want my help, I'll just find this monster without you,"

For a long moment silence hung in the air and there was a heavy tension between the Doctor and the FBI agents standing around the body. Reid and Martha were still kneeling beside Anna, both feeling out of place and extremely uncomfortable.

Suddenly, JJ cleared her throat and stepped a bit closer, looking the Doctor up and down, her lips pressed tightly together. "What do you mean 'you humans'?" she asked quietly.

And just as quickly as the tension had risen, it seemed to melt away and Morgan and Rossi both frowned in confusion and Hotch raised a brow.

The Doctor gaped for a moment, as if he hadn't realized he'd said that and Martha shook her head, wanting to just scream "I told you so,". She'd know they'd never be able to keep them from figuring it out, but the Doctor had insisted, the less they knew the better.

"Well…" the Doctor frowned, "I mean, the thing is… Alright, so I'm not human."

Prentiss raised a brow, "You're an alien?"

"Yes,"

Rossi closed his eyes, shaking his head, "We're letting a nutcase lead our investigation!"

"He's not crazy!" Martha protested, standing to her feet, Reid following behind her. "Really. He is an alien."

"And you are too?" Prentiss glanced at the younger woman curiously and Martha frowned slightly.

"No, of course I'm not. Just the Doctor. He's not human. He can prove it, can't you, Doctor?"

Prentiss looked back at the Doctor and pursed her lips, scrutinizing him, "He _looks _human."

"No," The Doctor quickly corrected her, "_You _look Time Lord. We came first."

"So you're a Time Lord?" Reid asked, his hazel eyes lit with curiosity. Morgan sighed and shook his head, very nearly rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"Come on, Kid, don't tell me you still believe this guy! Ok, aliens invading, sure. Alien serial killer is harder to swallow. And now he's saying that _he's_ an alien. Seriously? Reid, think about how insane this sounds! He's _human_, just look at him!"

Martha shook her head, "No really, he's not. I can prove it. Doctor, do you have your stethoscope?" she glanced sideways at the Doctor and he frowned, reaching inside his jacket and passing her the stethoscope.

"Look, just listen, I swear," Martha held the device out to Prentiss, who raised a brow and took it skeptically.

"Listen to what?"

"His heartbeat," Martha said. She would have just told them he had two hearts, but even she wouldn't have believed that if she hadn't heard it for herself the day they met in the hospital.

"What's his heartbeat got to do with anything?" Morgan demanded.

Reid eyed Morgan for a moment, "I believe him," he said quietly. "He's trying to help us find a killer. Alien or human, something is murdering these girls. And so far he's been helpful."

"Helpful how?"

"He gave us a cause of death!" Reid snapped.

"Yeah, if we believe that the killer is an alien stealing peoples' energy with some huge machine and we still somehow haven't caught wind of it!" Morgan shook his head. "Think about it, Reid, this guy is insane." He jerked his hand toward the Doctor, who looked mildly insulted and then turned his attention back to his friend. "And what little we do know about him doesn't exactly make him seem trustworthy."

Reid remained adamant, shaking his head. "I trust them, Morgan. I believe him. He's telling us the truth. How do you think he found out about the machine in the first place? If you'd seen his ship -"

"Reid!" Morgan looked completely exasperated. "We don't know anything about this guy except that whenever something bad happens, he shows up! You can't seriously trust him!"

"I do." Reid said forcefully, not budging from his position at all.

Martha and JJ could sense the argument escalating and both opened their mouths to say something when Morgan cut them off, "You've got to be crazy to believe this guy, Reid!"

Reid froze, going very pale all of a sudden. The rest of the team looked suddenly very uncomfortable and Martha and the Doctor looked confused as the young agent swallowed roughly and turned to walk away.

"Wait, Reid, I didn't mean it like that! I'm sorry!" Morgan started to chase after him but Reid just shook his head and kept going, not bothering to look back. Martha and JJ both took off after the him and Prentiss glanced over at Morgan, shaking her head.

"Nice, Derek. You think next time you could bring up the drugs too?"

Morgan winced and stared after Reid, JJ and Martha still far behind his disappearing form. "I didn't mean…" he sighed, shaking his head and slumping his shoulders.

"We'll deal with this later," Hotch said, "JJ and Martha can take care of him for now. We've got to deal with this killer… We need a plan."

"I've got a plan," the Doctor spoke up suddenly, "If anyone's still interested, that is."

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><p><strong>~DWCM~**

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><p><strong>AN: **So… bit tense, huh? And I know this chapter is a little shorter than usual (but still over my 1000 word quota). Sorry. I had to get this out there though, so I'll try to make up for it by making the next chapter a little longer.

Also, last chapter I spelled Anna's name wrong *winces* My bad. It was just a typo and she's dead anyway, but still… her name has 2 n's not one. I have corrected this mistake.

Also, I do not mention the Daleks with Canary Wharf because when they invaded there I'm not sure they went worldwide before the Doctor stopped them. And the Stolen Earth is something I don't really *want* them to bring up with the Daleks because that's the Doctor's future. And also because I'm pretty sure that the Doctor's involvement in that wasn't widely known. So yeah. Just wanted to cover my tracks there.

I'm again worried that the Doctor may be slightly OOC here. At least at the very end. I hope I did him justice when he snapped at Morgan; he can be very scary sometimes, especially when it comes to Rose.

Hope you guys enjoyed it! Please review! Let me know what you think!


	8. Chapter 8

**Title: **Beauty, the Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **Thanks so much for all of the wonderful reviews guys! I know I was very cruel last chapter and that this chapter was even later than that one was. Sorry. I had next to no time to really write last week, I was busy w/my cousin, plus working on another fic and… reading Sherlock Holmes. Does that count as an excuse? I feel like it should. Either way, still sorry for the delay. It seems to be becoming a habit.

Still, the show must go on (always wanted to say that *grins like an idiot*) Reid (yep, I'm *that* kinda nerd) and review please!

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><p><strong>Beauty, the Beast<strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter Eight<strong>

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><p>Reid hadn't realized that he was running at first. He just knew that he had to get away from that crime scene. Away from the sympathetic eyes, the dead body that weighed heavily on him, the claustrophobic feeling of everyone just smothering him. And Morgan. Especially Morgan. Some part of him knew that Morgan hadn't actually meant the words that he'd said to be so cutting. He'd just said it without thinking; in all honesty, they wouldn't have had such an effect on JJ or Hotch or Rossi.<p>

But no matter how he thought about it, the words still hurt. And it wasn't Morgan's fault. Not even a little bit. Reid grimaced, his head dully thudding and he flashed back to a conversation he'd had with the older agent a few months ago during a case. Okay, so Morgan knew very well what Reid had been going through lately. Maybe it was his fault a little bit.

Reid's head gave a sharp pang and the streets around him began to slip in and out of focus. He stumbled to a stop and looked around, not entirely sure where he was. He didn't even know how long he'd been walking – running, whatever. A few street corners had passed by in his peripheral vision, but he hadn't been paying attention.

He had just wanted to get away as quickly as possible before things got any worse than they already had.

"Reid!"

He almost grimaced at the familiar sound of JJ's voice. In the back of his mind a small, resentful whisper passed, demanding to know why it had to be _her _who had followed him. He squashed that whisper quickly and reminded himself that he'd decided to let go of those hurt feelings. It wasn't entirely JJ's fault. At least, that's what he kept telling himself.

"Dr. Reid!"

Martha's voice surprised him; he hadn't expected her to follow. He hardly knew her at all. She was kind enough, sure, but why would she care that he'd run off like some angry child? He silently berated himself for that. He knew Hotch was going to talk to him about it later, ask if he needed to speak to a therapist. Which he didn't. He was perfectly fine. Mentally, at least. If his headaches kept persisting he didn't know what he'd do.

He heard Martha and JJ's feet approaching him and debated about taking off again, but decided one childish show of emotion was enough for the night. Besides, his head was killing him and he didn't know how much the running would help it.

The two women caught up to him after a minute more and JJ hesitantly put a hand on her friend's shoulder. Things between them had been tense since Prentiss came back, but they'd been getting better. She hadn't really thought running after him through, she just knew that Reid needed someone and she ran after him like she would have before things had gotten a bit more complicated than they should have.

"Reid, are you okay?" JJ whispered quietly, somehow thinking that if she spoke too loudly it would shatter the weird calm that seemed to have fallen over the three of them.

The younger man just shrugged, taking a deep breath. "I'm fine, JJ, I just… needed some air,"

JJ didn't believe him and Martha clearly didn't either. She stepped sideways a bit and cautiously reached out to lift Reid's chin so that she was looking him in the eye. JJ was surprised when he didn't initially flinch away. She'd know Reid for years and he had always seemed to hate being touched, by anyone. It had taken a long time for him to get used to Garcia and Morgan, who hugged him and ruffled his hair so often the team teased him that he was like their puppy.

Martha studied the young doctor's squinted hazel eyes. His whole face was tight and she had a feeling it wasn't just because of the argument he'd just had with Agent Morgan. She wasn't sure why what the other man had said caused Reid to react like that, but clearly he was hurting more than just emotionally.

"You're still having that headache, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

"Headache?" JJ frowned, shifting so that she could see Reid's face. He hid it well, but she could see that he was in pain. "What headache? Does Hotch know about this?"

"It's just a headache, JJ," Reid assured her quickly, batting both Martha and JJ's hands away from him and taking a step back to reclaim his personal space.

Martha crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her head and turning to JJ. "It's not just a headache. He told us this morning he's had it for over 24 hours. And he's been having them for months. Something's wrong,"

"Reid, why didn't you tell us? Have you seen a doctor –?"

"Yes, I have. I'm fine. They all say I'm fine. Physically," Reid's voice was slightly bitter as the words came out of his mouth. Martha bit her lip, suddenly understanding why Morgan 'crazy' comment had struck him so hard.

She tilted her head, "Maybe the Doctor can help you," she suggested, "He's seen all sorts of diseases, I'm sure. And he can't have gotten the name 'the Doctor' for nothing. I'm sure he'd be happy to help you."

Reid shook his head, rubbing his temples, "I'm fine, really. They're just migraines, that's all,"

JJ pursed her lips, about to say something else when her phone rang. Expecting it to be Hotch or someone else on the team, she was surprised when she saw that it was Will.

"Hey, Will, everything okay?"

Will hesitated on the other end of the line, _"Everything's fine, it's just Henry –"_

JJ immediately paled, her hand tightening on the phone, "He's not having another seizure, is he? He's okay?" Her voice sounded slightly panicked and she forgot all about Reid and his headaches and Martha for a moment. Her word view narrowed to her small son, lying home sick in bed with a fever.

_"No, no, sweetheart, he's fine. His fever's gone down a bit; I was calling so he could talk to you. He's been crying for you for an hour. I know you're at work, but –"_

She sighed in relief, "No, it's fine. Put him on for me,"

Martha smiled faintly at the blond woman and gently tugged Reid's arm, "Come on," she whispered, "I think we should be getting back to your team,"

Reid nodded slowly, pausing to throw a quick glance back at JJ, wondering how come JJ hadn't told him that Henry had had a seizure. He _was _Henry's Godfather; should he know things like that? Still, as long as Henry was alright now, he would talk to her about it later. He followed Martha down the street, allowing her to guide him as they went.

He didn't even realize that he'd let her lead him down a wrong street at first; Martha wasn't exactly familiar with the city and he hadn't been paying attention but within a few minutes they looked around and found themselves in an unfamiliar area. It took Reid only a moment to realize where they really were though, and he quickly turned them down the right path.

"I'm so sorry!" Martha apologized, embarrassed even though she had no reason to be.

"It's my fault," Reid assured her, still trying to ignore the little whispers of pain that were throbbing in his head. "I wasn't paying attention. Don't worry; it'll just take us a few more minutes to get back to them, that's all."

She smiled at him and nodded, glancing around. "We must be in the abandoned warehouse district," she murmured with amusement, shaking her head. "What are these things?"

"Storage buildings," Reid answered. "Most of them are empty now, but some are still in use. I believe this is actually what most people refer to as a 'ghetto', although it's not what one would expect it to be based on television portrayals. Really, it's just one of the oldest sections of the city, and mostly old business and, well, warehouses and storage sheds."

Martha chuckled lightly, surprised at how bright Reid's eyes got just explaining that. "You know, if you sounded a bit more excited and were wearing a long brown coat and had your hair all… spiky-up… You'd be the Doctor,"

Reid's lips curved up into one of the few genuine smiles Martha had seen him smile so far. "I _am_ the Doctor," he said playfully. "Dr. Reid."

Martha wasn't sure why that was as funny to her as it was, but she laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes and she reached out, looping her arm through his. "I don't doubt it for a second," she said, "Come on Doctor Reid, we've got an alien serial killer to catch!"

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>Prentiss could tell that Morgan was about to say something rude, clearly still upset about hurting Reid and wanting to take it out on someone else. Before he could, she cut in. "What plan, exactly?"<p>

The Doctor remained quiet for a moment, "Well, it's not a very safe plan, but I've thought it through. You all say that the victims had to have some sort of link between them, correct?"

Hotch nodded slowly, "We're still looking for it, but if you think that this is an alien stealing energy to… live forever then what link would we be looking for?" Hotch felt ridiculous just saying those words out loud. Alien killer. Stealing energy. For eternal life. It was something straight out of some science fiction movie. He could certainly understand why Morgan and Rossi were so suspicious, he was too, but so far the Doctor had been helpful, if annoyingly enigmatic.

"Well, true, but think about it. All the girls killed were around the same age. Early twenties, late teens. So, that means this alien is grabbing young women. I mean, I'm sure it could grab a young man just as easily, but the point still stands that it's taking these girls' energy. They have the most energy to give, they'd give it the best source of energy to take."

Prentiss frowned, "So… your plan is what, exactly?"

"It might be a bit risky, but if we can get it to use its machine again, my ship can trace its location. We could find it,"

"But if it turns on its machine again, that means it's draining another victim?" Rossi almost slapped his hand over his mouth, not believing he was actually going along with the Doctor insane theory. Even if it did sort of sound plausible when the Doctor explained it. Aliens, maybe. Alien serial killers, unlikely. But all of this just slamming him in the face was a bit much. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that the Doctor was apparently not human.

"Technically, yes," the Doctor nodded, "That's why it's a 'not safe' plan. I haven't quite worked that bit out yet. I mean, we obviously don't want it to take another victim, and if we're very, very lucky and search the streets, we might find it before it even takes someone else. Of course, a creature like this, with technology so advanced, it's probably got a very good cloaking device, so we probably won't be able to spot it immediately. That makes things difficult, so the odds are against us finding it before it takes another victim. So, we wait, and now that I know what's killing these girls, I can set my ship to trace the source of the energy that I found on the bodies and it'll lead us right to it!"

The one part of the Doctor's plan that the Doctor wasn't all too keen on, besides, of course, the fact that it put another girl at risk, was that he'd have to show the rest of the BAU his ship. He'd shown Spencer the TARDIS, but that was different. He trusted Spencer as much as Spencer trusted him. And it wasn't as if he didn't trust the rest of his team, he was just a bit wary of letting them in. It was inevitable, of course, and Martha had told him as much. They were going to find out most of it.

Prentiss frowned, "It takes them while they're alone," she said, "At their most vulnerable. By now, hardly anyone goes anywhere alone, especially at night,"

"But the UnSub will still need more victims," Morgan said. He refused to call it 'the alien'. That was just too weird for him. "We could send someone undercover."

"Exactly," Prentiss nodded. "I could try. I'm not young enough to fit the usual age group, but if it's desperate, maybe it'll just try to grab whoever's alone,"

"JJ's younger," Hotch pointed out, "She could try."

"We both could," Prentiss said, "Give us a higher chance of catching the UnSub in the act. JJ and I could sit at empty bus stations on different streets in the UnSub's usual hunting ground. The rest of the team could be on standby, waiting to grab them. Then, we eliminate the need of waiting until it turns its machine on again,"

The Doctor was slowly nodding, liking the logic of the plan despite the fact that he didn't quite like the idea of the agents putting themselves in danger. Of course, they did it on a daily basis, but not like this. They had no real idea what they were up against. He half expected Martha to say that she'd volunteer as well, when he remembered she'd run off with JJ after Spencer.

"They've been gone a while," he said, frowning. "Do you suppose they're alright?"

The agents suddenly seemed more worried than they had been and Hotch pulled out his cell phone, about to call them when Prentiss spotted JJ's familiar blond head coming around the corner.

"Look, there they are!" she pointed down the street.

"Good, we need to get moving fast if we want to catch this UnSub; they don't wait long between dumping a body and abducting a new victim. They'll probably try again tonight."

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>Martha was smiling, trying to make Dr. Reid laugh. His face was still pinched up and his fists were clenched, but he was doing a very good job of hiding the fact that he was in pain. She was determined to distract him from it entirely.<p>

As they were maneuvering their way back to where the team was, Martha frowned, "Spencer… you said this was like… a bad section of the city, right?"

Reid nodded, glancing down at her curiously. She sounded oddly tense, like she was nervous about something. He started to remind her that it wasn't really that bad, they were unlikely to be attacked by random gang members with guns and knives, but before he could she pointed toward the end of the alley where he saw a tall, blond woman deftly picking the lock on one of the warehouses.

She looked extremely out of place in the dingy alley. Her blond curls were piled regally on her head and her long sapphire dress was already dirty at the hem thanks to the street. She looked more like she belonged on the pages of a history book, as a queen maybe.

"Then what's she doing down here?" Martha asked, her voice a hushed whispered.

Reid's hand instinctively went to his revolver. She didn't look like she'd cause much trouble, but he had this strange feeling that she wasn't exactly what she seemed to be. "I don't know…" he said quietly. "Let's find out."

They carefully crept along the street, watching as she slipped into the warehouse, not spotting them approaching her. Reid slipped the revolver out of his holster and they each stood on either side of the door. It was unlocked and everything was quiet. Reid tried to reason in his head that maybe she was going to get something that she'd left in the locker. But then why pick the lock? And why dress like that if she was going to?

All he had was a nagging suspicion that something was wrong, but Martha clearly felt it too, so it wasn't in his head.

"Shouldn't we phone your team?" Martha whispered, glancing back at the agent. "For backup or something?"

Reid nodded, almost hitting himself for not doing that before. Of course they would need to call the team, even if this was nothing, they'd probably be worried that they still weren't back yet. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open, only to find a black screen staring at him. He pressed the send button, the screen remained black.

"It's dead," he whispered quietly.

"We can use mine," Martha reached into her pockets and frowned. Of course she wouldn't have it now. "I must've left it on the TARDIS… I was sure I had it though."

She spent another moment searching her pants pockets just to be sure, but her phone wasn't there. She sighed and shook her head.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"I'll go in; you wait out here for me,"

"No chance," Martha said, shaking her head. "You are not going in there alone. You're head isn't right and I'm not about to leave you to fight off an alien by yourself. I've seen this stuff before, I can help you."

Reid chewed his lower lip, mentally debating for a moment. It was stupid and reckless to allow her to go in with him, but he got the feeling she wouldn't listen to any amount of arguing on his part.

"Stay behind me," He warned her. There was a look in her eyes that reminded him a bit of Prentiss and he knew that even if she said she'd stay behind, she would end up sneaking in anyway and the last thing he wanted was for her to go in after him while he didn't know where she was.

She nodded and remained silent as Reid pushed the doors open carefully and they stepped inside. It was a large warehouse, which seemed fairly normal until they realized that it was too large to be a warehouse.

Martha reasoned quickly that no, this wasn't like that TARDIS. It wasn't bigger on the inside. But it was certainly bigger than it should be. The warehouses in the area were all connected with wall of steel and at least three or four of those connecting walls had been removed and sitting far to their right, taking up most of the room inside the renovated warehouse, was an honest to goodness spaceship.

Reid's mouth was open slightly as he stared at it. The TARDIS had been on thing, but it looked like a big, blue box. This was a spaceship. A _real _spaceship. Smaller than he'd have pictured one, but still a spaceship.

Martha recovered first, having already seen fantastic things like that up close. "I don't see her anywhere," she whispered.

Reid blinked and spun round slowly. The woman they'd followed was nowhere in sight, that was true.

"Should we split up? I search one end, you search the other?"

"No," Reid immediately shook his head. They were not splitting up. He still remembered what had happened the last time he'd split up like that and he wasn't about to risk it again. "We'll stay together. This way,"

He nodded toward the ship and they quietly edged their way in that direction, flinching at every little bump and sound, wondering where the woman was and how she'd done all of this.

"She must be here somewh-"

Martha's thought was suddenly cut off and she collapsed next to him. Reid spun around in time to see the woman from before holding some sort of weapon in her hands. She shoved it against his neck with lightening reflexes. A searing pain scorched through him and his vision blurred, but he tried to stay conscious. It only worked for maybe thirty seconds, but he did manage to fire a shot. Unfortunately, it ricocheted uselessly off the ground and sank into one of the walls before his vision went completely black and his body went limp.

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>"There you are!" Prentiss sounded relived when JJ finally caught up to them, smiling. She looked back around the corner and frowned, "But where's Reid and Martha?"<p>

JJ looked around the group, worry in her eyes, "I thought they'd be back already. Will called and they went on ahead of me… You haven't heard from them?"

The Doctor was suddenly very still, "No, which way did they go? Did you see?" there were just the earliest traces of panic in his eyes. He was not going to lose Martha again.

"Um, no, but they should be here soon, maybe they got turned around," JJ pulled out her phone, "I'll call Reid."

She waited and waited, but eventually the voicemail picked up. "He's not answering," now she sounded really worried.

Morgan already had his phone out, not taking any chances, "Baby Girl? Can you track Reid's phone. Yeah, hurry,"

They all stood tense and worried, just hoping that maybe they'd gotten lost. But something was nagging at the back of their minds, saying that wasn't even the least bit possible. After a couple of minutes, Morgan closed his eyes and let his hand drop to his side, shaking his head.

"It's either turned off or dead, she can't get a location,"

* * *

><p><strong>~DWCM~**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: ***winces* Did I do that? Yes. Yes I did.

I'd like to apologize to you all because Martha wasn't actually supposed to be with Reid, but she was. And Reid wasn't supposed to run off like that either. That all happened without my consent, I was very angry at Morgan writing that scene last chapter. But it happened and changed my entire plan for this fic. Anyway…

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Don't forget to review!

(Also, if any of you guys are Sherlock fans, I just posted a short little oneshot with Sherlock and Reid meeting when they were children if you're interested. "An Even Match" is the title.)


	9. Chapter 9

**Title: **Beauty, the Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **First, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter. You guys are all brilliant and amazing and fantastic and wonderful and a whole lot of other adjectives that mean awesome.

Second, I have re-written scenes in chapter 4, chapter 7 and chapter 8 (along with minor dialogue and scenes in chapters 5 and 6). As was pointed out to me by **KMW1968**, because this is set in 2011 Garcia's search would have pulled up an entirely different history for Martha and also the Doctor. Therefore, I've had to change things a bit to fit this. I would also like to give an enormous thank-you to **KMW1968 **who has also been extremely helpful to me on this story and who has offered wonderful suggestions (one of which, I might add, was put to use in this chapter). This story would likely not be as good as it is if it hadn't been for her. So, THANK YOU!

Anyway, you may want to look back over chapters 4, 7 & 8 to see the changes I've made.

Once again, thank you all so much for your reviews! I'm glad you're all still enjoying the story!

Please don't forget to review!

* * *

><p><strong>Beauty, the Beast<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Nine<strong>

* * *

><p>The Doctor looked very unhappy now, but was trying to rationalize Martha and Spencer's absence in his mind. It was entirely possible that they'd just gotten sidetracked or lost. Except that Spencer probably knew this city very well, so they couldn't be lost and what would sidetrack them when they were looking for a killer that was currently roaming free? Ok, so maybe he couldn't rationalize it. Still, that didn't necessarily mean that they were in danger.<p>

"Martha has a mobile phone," the Doctor said suddenly. He was still wearing his glasses, forgetting that he had them on after all the excitement from before. His eyes were magnified behind the lenses and the team could see the worry in his eyes.

"Do you have her number?" Hotch asked, still holding his own cell phone, glancing up at the Doctor, who nodded and took Hotch's phone, entering the number himself. Hotch put it on speaker and they listened as it rang, the sound punctuated by a faint, nearby trilling.

Frowning, they looked around and the Doctor's eyes got impossibly large as he raced down the sidewalk for a few yards and bent down to pick up the fallen cell phone, holding it in his hands as if it were a gun.

"Ok…" Prentiss chewed her lips anxiously, "Where were you when Reid and Martha left? Did you see what direction they went?"

JJ nodded and told them the name of the street that they'd stopped on.

"We can get there faster if we drive," Hotch said, nodding toward the SUVs. He stepped aside for a moment, speaking briefly with the coroner who was waiting to the side. He told him that they were finished with the scene and then quickly made his way to the driver's side of the vehicle.

The Doctor hesitated as Rossi and Morgan got in one SUV and JJ and Prentiss climbed into the other. He finally got into the vehicle Hotch was driving.

Prentiss, who was sitting in the backseat next to him, frowned down at the stethoscope she still held in her hands, just realizing that she still held it. "Um, here," she passed it back to the Doctor awkwardly and he took it, staring at it for a second and then pushing it into his coat pocket.

Prentiss cleared her throat and gave him a sideways glance, shifting in her seat, "Why did she want us to listen to your heart anyway?" she asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. Hotch looked back in the rearview mirror, watching the Doctor's face as he answered.

The Doctor blinked and shrugged, "Because I've got two hearts," he admitted.

"Two hearts?" JJ turned around in her seat so that she could see the Doctor. "You mean… two working hearts? In your chest?"

"Yes. Time Lords have a binary-vascular system," he explained. By this point, he knew there was no hiding anything from these people. Besides, all he wanted to do at this point was find Martha. "Do you think you could drive a bit faster?" he asked.

Hotch, who was already going over the limit anyway, shook his head, "We're almost there, it's just around the corner,"

"What planet are you from?" JJ asked curiously.

The Doctor shook his head, "Doesn't matter,"

Prentiss raised a brow, "Why not?"

"It's not like you'd know it anyway," the Doctor shrugged, "It's not important right now."

"Ok, JJ, which way did they go?" Hotch asked, pulling the SUV to the curb. Morgan and Rossi came to a stop behind him and climbed out, walking up to the driver's side and looking around.

"No sign of them anywhere," Morgan said, his dark eyes searching the street for any hint of his missing friend.

"They headed down the way we came, then turned left," JJ said, "After that I didn't see them."

Hotch frowned. They should have gotten back to the crime scene before JJ had if they'd continued going that way. So what had happened to stop them? "Alright, we'll search the area on foot. They can't have gotten too far off course. If we're lucky, we'll find some sign of where they went,"

The Doctor was the first to jump out of the SUV, followed quickly by Hotch, Prentiss and JJ. Just as they were about to head off in the direction that JJ had indicated, Hotch's phone began to ring and everyone stopped, somehow hoping that it would be Reid or Martha.

It wasn't, evidently, by the look on Hotch's face. "Hotchner," he answered with the usual, brisk tone he had when dealing with Strauss or someone else above him. He had been walking slowly, but as he listened to the other person on the line, he stopped and frowned. "What? …Yes, we are investigating the possibility of extraterrestrial involvement. …I don't see why that's relevant. They what? …Already? …Of course. …Yes, sir. …I'll be there."

He lowered the phone, looking a bit flabbergasted, "That was the Director of the FBI," he explained, frowning. "UNIT heard about the case and wanted to know how much progress we were making,"

The Doctor smirked slightly, "Good 'ole UNIT. Wherever there's a whiff of something alien in the air, they'll find it,"

Hotch frowned at him, but ignored the comment. "They were going to send someone to liaise with us on the case, but apparently they're extremely occupied at the moment. They passed it to a former employee who was in the country,"

"Wait, what?" Morgan frowned, "They're just going to send someone to assist us on the case without asking first?"

"They already sent them, earlier this morning. They're at the BAU right now,"

"They're where?" Rossi raised a brow.

"Waiting for us to brief them on the case," Hotch sighed, shaking his head. "We need to be there. All of us. Director's orders."

"But Hotch what about Reid?" Morgan demanded.

Hotch started to answer, but the Doctor cut him off, "I'm not leaving Martha out here while she could be in danger. You and your team will have to go on without me,"

Hotch started to object, but the Doctor didn't work for him, he couldn't very well order him to do anything. He looked back at Morgan and sighed, "Alright, Morgan, you and the Doctor stay and search. Call if you find anything. The rest of you, get moving. They're already waiting for us."

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>His head was pounding angrily, more so than it ever had before. Slowly, Reid blinked his eyes and lifted his head, biting down hard on his lip to keep from crying out as a painful jolt went through his skull. The room was entirely out of focus and appeared to be moving, which made him extremely nauseous. He had to fight back the urge to puke as he blinked his eyes, trying to clear his vision. It didn't do him much good, but he could tell he wasn't inside the warehouse any longer.<p>

He didn't know for sure if his bad vision was because of his headache or because of whatever it was that had knocked him out, but he hoped that it was the latter. If his headaches were getting this bad there was no way he'd been able to hide it from everyone that he was in serious need of help.

"Spencer!"

He grimaced hearing Martha's voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard. He'd nearly forgotten that she was with him until then. He opened his eyes, but couldn't see her and his head erupted in pain whenever he tried to look around.

"Spencer, are you alright?"

Why was she screaming? Reid squeezed his eyes shut, his ears ringing slightly, head throbbing. Martha's voice sounded far too loud, bouncing loudly off the inside of his head and he just wanted to tell her to shut up, but he couldn't seem to get the words to form in his mouth properly.

Martha was watching him from where he sat. She'd woken up a few minutes ago with a major headache that was only just starting to die down. Spencer was on the ground, arms behind his back, probably tied or handcuffed, she wasn't sure. She was strapped down to some sort of metal table thing, her wrists and ankles held into place with heavy bands. She was trying very hard not to think about the bruises that had been on those girls' bodies.

Reid's face was scrunched tight, his eyes closed, his jaw fixed. He was too pale, Martha realized. If the alien had given her a headache with its… device thing, then she couldn't imagine what Reid must be feeling.

"Spencer," she said his name again and bit her lip when he groaned. He must be in pain, but she needed to talk to him. To figure out some way out of this mess. The Doctor wasn't going to be happy when he realized that they were missing.

After a few moments, the young agent finally opened his eyes, his face still pinched slightly. He was still in pain, then. But at least he looked a bit better than he had before.

Reid was just relived that room wasn't spinning anymore. That meant that it probably wasn't his headaches playing havoc with his vision. He blinked a few more times and leaned back, annoyed to find that his hands were cuffed behind his back – probably with his own handcuffs.

"Martha…" his voice sounded tight as he spotted her, strapped to some sort of metal table. It was sitting at a ninety degree angle, so she was facing him and there was terror written all over her face.

He swallowed roughly, "Are you okay?"

"Fine, I mean… aside from being strapped down to this thing and being kidnapped by an alien serial killer," she tried to force a smile, but Reid could tell she was scared and the effect was lost.

He slowly looked around the space, careful not to move too fast otherwise he'd just send another splitting wave of pain through his head. The entire room was metal, apparently. And sitting right in front of them was a huge machine with a faint, blinking light. It was humming softly, almost background noise. It was like nothing Reid had ever seen before.

"That must be the machine it uses," he said quietly.

"She," an unfamiliar voice spoke and both Reid and Martha turned quickly – too quickly as they both immediately winced at the pain the movement caused. The woman from before was standing behind them, approaching them. The soft click of her heels echoed across the metal room.

"She?" Reid frowned.

"I'm not an _it_," the woman said, an offended look on her face. "Simply because I'm not human, you decide I must be an 'it'. My race has males and females just as yours does."

"Oh," Martha nodded slowly, "Sorry." Though she honestly wasn't sure why she'd said they were sorry. It wasn't as if that was going to stop the alien from killing them both.

The woman was beautiful, unnaturally so, now that Reid could really get a look at her. She had a dazzling smile and golden curls and vivid blue eyes that sparkled like sapphires. Looking at her, he knew it wasn't real because no human being's face could ever be that perfectly symmetrical.

"Um… do you have a name?" he asked, his voice coming out more nervous than he'd hoped. Part of him really wanted to know, fascinated as he was by meeting an alien – even if she was a killer. And another part of him just wanted to stall her. The team had to be looking for them and he was starting to suspect that they were on board the ship they'd seen as they entered the storage space. Which meant they weren't too far out of the way. They'd find them eventually.

Her red lips curved into a smile and she nodded, "Of course I have a name," and for just a moment Reid thought her blue eyes turned a glowing yellowish green, but then it was gone.

When she didn't elaborate any further, Reid frowned, "What is it?" he asked.

She just smiled, "It's not important to you," she said, walking slowly toward the machine, pursing her lips as she studied a small screen on it and sighed.

"What do you really look like?" Martha asked, glancing sideways at Reid. "I mean, you're not human, so that must be… some kind of disguise."

The woman turned slowly and nodded, "Yes, but I prefer this look. Your human bodies are so… beautiful, don't you think?" her red lips curved and she played with one of the golden curls that had fallen loose. "If it was my choice I'd stay like this forever."

"But you can't," Martha frowned, "Someone will notice you eventually,"

She laughed, shaking her head, "I said I'd stay like this forever, not that I'd stay here forever," she said, turning abruptly. "Don't worry, just as soon as I'm finished, I'll leave this planet and find somewhere nicer to live. Your bodies are appealing but this godforsaken rock is disgusting."

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>The BAU was busy when the team arrived back. Agents rushing here and there, talking on phones and chattering away. Hotch, Rossi, Prentiss and JJ walked briskly by them, approaching the conference room where they'd been told the people UNIT had sent were waiting.<p>

The door was open and Hotch stepped inside first, spotting a man near the opposite end of the room, looking over the dry-erase board that they'd set up as their evidence board. He was an average sized, dark skinned man wearing distinctly non-descript black clothes – black shirt, black trousers, black shoes. He turned as they entered the room and smiled as Hotch shook his hand.

"You must be Agent Hotchner," he said, and Hotch was surprised to hear another English accent. UNIT had their own base here in the US; why not send someone from there? But then he remembered that they hadn't really sent one of their employees at all; they'd sent a former employee. Which meant that while they deemed the case interesting, it wasn't quite on par with the things UNIT would normally deal with. Hotch wasn't sure if he was offended or not.

He nodded, "Yes, and this Agent Rossi, Agent Jareau and Agent Prentiss,"

"Mickey Smith," the man introduced himself, grinning.

Hotch nodded, "We need to make this quick, we've got a missing agent in the field and a civilian –"

"Alright, yeah, sure," Mickey cut him off before he could finish, "Just give me a second, my wife had to go to the bathroom, she'll be back any minute now."

"Wife?" Prentiss raised a brow.

"Yeah, she's the one who used to work with UNIT," Mickey said, "There she is!"

They frowned and turned around, gaping as the woman entered the room. She looked a bit older maybe, and her hair was different, but there was no mistaking her as she smiled at them. Martha Jones had just walked into the conference room.

* * *

><p><strong>~DWCM~**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Okay, that, I know, was a bit cruel of me. But in my defense… it was far too tempting to pass up the chance to end it there. Besides that, you guys get this chapter far earlier than you would have. I've been alternating between updating this and my Dark Knight/Criminal Minds crossover "Everything Burns". Unfortunately, Batman is being extremely unresponsive and refuses to speak to the Joker and Reid. So, I wrote this while having a long talk with my muse about keeping characters in line. So, for once, writer's block was beneficial to someone.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! :D Please let me know what you think! Don't forget to review!


	10. Chapter 10

**Title: **Beauty, the Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **So another chapter. I would have written this sooner except my muse has been attacking me lately with Sherlock/Criminal Minds stories. She is simply addicted to Sherlock and refuses to let me focus for more than a few minutes on anything I actually have planned to do anywhere else.

Thanks so much for all of the wonderful reviews (I think I almost cried when I realized I've gotten over a 100 on this already!) You guys are fantastic! Thank you for being patient with me, as always.

And now back to the complicated tangle of knots that has become this story!

* * *

><p><strong>Beauty, the Beast<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Ten<strong>

* * *

><p>Morgan and the Doctor trudged through the street in relative silence. A stiff, awkward tension still hung in the air between them and neither was sure what to do to dispel it. The Doctor, for his part, was more focused on Martha anyway, but the annoy thickness in the air made it difficult to concentrate on anything other than the FBI agent currently walking alongside him as they searched for their missing friends.<p>

It was Morgan who finally broke the silence, clearing his throat a bit nervously, though he wasn't sure why he sounded so nervous.

"How long have you and Martha known each other?" he asked. It was more to break the tension than because he really cared, honestly. He was just tired of feeling that heavy weight on his shoulder when he was already busy enough feeling like a jackass for what he'd said to Reid.

The Doctor glanced back at the agent, surprised to hear him speak at all, let alone ask a question. He thought for a moment and felt that guilt wash over him, "Not long, really, we just… Well I just met her recently and I've already nearly gotten her killed several times."

Morgan looked at him curiously and took a deep breath, this time squashing down the instinct he had to demand to know more about this mysterious man and his companion. Reid had trusted him and that was something.

"What are you doing here?" Morgan asked, "Really? If you aren't human –"

"I'm really not," the Doctor said, looking straight ahead as they made their way down a side-street, the Doctor occasionally using his sonic screwdriver. Morgan wasn't sure what he was using it for, but maybe it could track Martha. It apparently did a lot of other things, why not?

"Ok," Morgan kept himself calm this time. He'd had time to think over the ride – and the awkward walk – and even though he still wasn't entirely sure he believed the man, he had to admit the possibility was at least there. He might not like it, but the last few years, and the last year especially, had forced him to rethink his entire idea of the universe. He still wasn't really sure what he believed about it all anymore.

"Then what are you? And why are you here?"

Again there was a pause before the Doctor let out a heavy breath and sighed, "I'm a Time Lord, not that you'd know what that is. And I'm here because something is killing these girls and I want to stop it. Same as you, really,"

Morgan frowned, "Why?"

"Why?" now the Doctor looked confused as he glanced back at the FBI agent.

"Why do you want to stop it?"

"Why do you?" the Doctor shot back.

Morgan was quiet for a while, thinking that over. Okay, so maybe the Doctor really was only there to help. That didn't explain everything. "What about Garcia's search? All those things she found about you? You were even there when the President was assassinated!"

The Doctor's brows scrunched together and he whirled around, staring at Morgan with wide eyes, "What? I was where?"

"The President," Morgan said, frowning at him, "He was killed. Garcia found reports about a man called the Doctor and there was even a picture."

The Doctor blinked, looking a little bit unsure as he thought over this information, "When?"

"What do you mean?"

"When was the president killed?"

"2007,"

The Doctor nodded slowly, "Alright. Something to think about then. Of course that could be a while from now. No, I should stop now…"

Morgan watched the Doctor talking to himself with a furrowed brow, completely lost. Suddenly the Doctor stopped and turned around, narrowed eyes. "What else did your analyst find? She must be very good, those files are impossibly to find unless you dig deep enough, I made sure of that. Thought I did at least…"

Morgan snorted, "Garcia's the best there is, Doctor, she can find anything if it's online,"

He nodded slowly, "What else did she find?"

"Why?"

"Just… curious," the Doctor said, eyes wide. Morgan started to answer him when the Doctor suddenly cut him off, shaking his head quickly, "No, better not tell me. Bad idea. Sorry, forget I asked."

"Okaaaay," Morgan was starting to rethink his change of heart. Maybe this man was crazy. He decided to change to subject, just to be safe. If he really was unstable he didn't want him going into some kind of fit while they were searching for Reid and Martha.

"What are Time Lords?"

The Doctor took a moment to think about that, frowning in thought. "That's a bit complicated," he finally decided.

Morgan grit his teeth, but decided not to press the issue. Fine. Time Lords were complicated, that much he could agree with. "Alright. Reid said he saw your ship, what is it? Where is it, actually? Why haven't we noticed it?"

The Doctor smiled, "Hidden. You'll probably end up seeing it soon if we don't find Martha and Spencer soon…" he trailed off and silence fell for another minute as they walked along the street, the Doctor suddenly making a turn down a narrow street, darkened with the lack of streetlights.

Morgan cleared his throat as the Doctor held the sonic screwdriver out in front of him, the faint whirring noises the only sound for a long few seconds. "What are you doing that?"

The Doctor lowered his arm and sighed, "Trying to see if it can pick up Martha. It probably won't work, but theoretically if we get close enough it may detect the TARDIS energy on her, maybe Spencer too since he's been onboard her as well,"

Morgan frowned, "The TARDIS?"

"That's my ship," the Doctor answered absently, "Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

Morgan nodded slowly like he understood, even though he had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean. The Doctor seemed unfazed by his lack of response, his dark eyes determined and focused as he and Morgan crept down the street.

Morgan nearly jumped when his cellphone rang and he snatched it from his hip, "Yeah, Hotch?"

The Doctor stopped, sighing and frowning at him, annoyed. He didn't want to stop. Every second they wasted was more time that Spencer and Martha could be in danger. He kept telling himself they didn't know for sure what had happened, but it was the only answer he could come up with.

"What? Hotch, are you sure? But that… Ok. Ok, yeah. We'll wait for you," he looked around and jogged ahead a few feet to look for the street sign, quickly rattling it off to his boss. "Yeah. Hurry, ok?"

He frowned, snapping the phone shut and clipping it to his belt again before looking back up at the Doctor.

"Hotch wants us to wait here," he said. "They're on their way back."

"What! We can't wait! What about Martha and Spencer, they could be hurt or, or in danger or –"

"I doubt Martha's in any danger," Morgan cut him off, a brooding, confused expression on his face.

"What? Why not?"

"She's with them now,"

"What! ?"

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>Martha walked over to Mickey, a large smile on her face as she regarded the team, her brown eyes sparkling. "Agent Hotchner, nice to see you again, it's been… well a while,"<p>

"A while?" Prentiss gaped at her, "It's been about an hour, maybe!"

Martha frowned, her brow wrinkling in confusion as she eyed them and then turned to look at the evidence board, "An hour? Wha are you – Oh!" Her eyes widened and she stared at the photographs. "The Aphrontian, of course, this is _that _case. I'd nearly forgotten about it, seems like a lifetime ago."

"What are you talking about?" Mickey frowned now, confused.

"You remember I told you the Doctor and I were here before?" Martha asked, glancing over at her husband, "This is that case, apparently. I never did get the proper date, just knew it was in 2011. Blimey, this is about to get complicated. How long have I been gone again? An hour? Where's Agent Morgan and the Doctor?"

"Wait, hold on, you mean the Doctor's here? But how can he be here? Last time we saw him I thought…"

"I know," Martha nodded, "But remember what he says, Mickey, time isn't a straight line. That hasn't happened to him yet. Best not to mention it, don't want to risk ripping a hole through the universe do we?"

"Should we go then?" Mickey asked, "Before the Doctor gets back?"

"No," Martha shook her head, "I don't remember everything, but I do remember us being here. Don't worry, it's fine. I think." She frowned again and sighed, shaking her head and turning back to Hotch and the team, who were staring at them as if they'd been speaking gibberish.

"Right then, first things first, we need to find me. And Spencer," her eyes got wide and she bit her lip. "And we probably want to hurry. The Aphrontian's got a spaceship in a group of warehouses in the city. We need to find the Doctor and Agent Morgan. We don't have much time…"

"A warehouse?" Rossi frowned at her, "What you are you talking about?"

"That's where we are. Right now. I can't remember the street we were on, we got lost, I'm sorry. It was really my fault, Spencer's headache was bad and I didn't know the city. But I'd recognize the area, I think," she paused, looking thoughtful.

"Where's Reid?" JJ demanded, "How did you even get away?"

Martha sighed, wincing, "That's a bit… complicated and I'm sorry but we really don't have time. We've got to hurry, if we haven't been found yet then we don't have any time to waste. Time can be rewritten, that's what the Doctor says, and if it is, I'd rather we find us sooner, you barely got there in time last time."

"In time for what?"

"Come on!" Martha insisted, "I'll try to explain on the way, I'm really sorry, but we just don't have time!"

Hotch, Rossi, JJ and Prentiss frowned as Martha hurried out of the building with Mickey behind her, looking only slightly less confused than they did. "What's going on, Hotch?" Prentiss asked, frowning at the Unit Chief.

"I'm not sure yet," Hotch said, pulling his phone off its clip, "But we'll find out. I'll call Morgan, let him know we're coming."

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>"Ok," Reid winced, "So you're siphoning the energy from these girls and… storing it? To keep yourself young?"<p>

She grinned, something sinister in that smile. For one brief moment Reid thought he saw the flash of nearly glowing white fangs. "Oh, you're a bright one aren't you?" she said, walking towards him, her heels clicking on the metal flooring.

"I think I like you," she beamed at him, kneeling in front of him, her sapphire eyes sparkling as he jerked back away from her, not sure what to expect. He immediately regretted the move when pain jolted through his head and he grimaced.

"Ooh, what's wrong, sweetheart?" she crooned sweetly, placing a manicured hand on his head, running her fingers through his hair. "Got a bit of a headache I'd assume. That can happen…" then she frowned, pausing with her hand on his head. Reid swallowed roughly and stared into her eyes, this time certain that they flashed that strange green-yellow color before quickly shifting back to the unnatural blue.

"What is _this? _Oh there's something in your head… something…hmm… This is new…" she trailed off, licking her lips and closing her eyes. "Oh, my! There's so much energy! _You _are going to be delightful!"

Reid stared at her in confusion, breathing a little easier once she stood and moved away, going back to the machine.

"You know what's causing his headaches?" Martha asked, frowning. If this alien could figure it out in just a few minutes, why hadn't the Doctor? Or had he? She frowned, biting her lip as the Aphrontian spun around, a bright, sickening grin on her ethereal features.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, but there's more to your little boyfriend than meets the eye, sweetie. Much, much more," those sapphire eyes glittered and she turned back to her machine, making an odd sound in her throat and pouting.

"Ugh! This stupid thing!" she crossed her arms, "You two are going to have to wait a while," she said, a hint of aggravation in her tone, "My machine takes a few hours to cool down. Takes a lot of energy to drain a life form of its energy. Especially you humans, you're so deliciously full of energy!"

"Well, can't say I'm sad to hear that," Martha said, tugging at her bonds as inconspicuously as she could, which wasn't all that easy with those sparkling eyes on her. "I'm not exactly in a hurry to die."

The Aphrontian laughed and smiled at her, "Oh, dear, it doesn't matter how long it takes for my machine to cool, you're still going to die. Why should when matter?"

"Because –" Martha bit her lip and stopped. She'd nearly said because the Doctor was looking for her, but decided it wasn't the best idea to tell her that they had a rescue party. Because she was certain of it. The Doctor was coming. He always came, usually at the last second. More fun that way, apparently.

"Never mind," she shook her head. "You're right. It doesn't really matter, does it?"

Reid shifted his weight and grimaced as the handcuffs bit into his wrists, "Why not kill me first?" he said, eyes darting to Martha, "If I have more energy?"

She smiled at him, "Don't be silly. That'd take too long. I'll drain her first and save you for last. Dessert should always come last, after all."

Reid frowned at her, "What do you mean anyway? How do I have more energy?"

She laughed and shook her head, "Oh, that's probably a bit over my head, sweetheart, I'd explain it but I don't really know. But that energy… oh, it's so overwhelming," she licked her lips turning away from them again, her eyes focused on her machine.

"I can almost taste it,"

* * *

><p><strong>~DWCM~**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I don't know why, but I feel a bit "blah" about this chapter. Maybe that's just me. Anyway, action-y stuff next chapter, promise :D And very possibly two Marthas meeting each other. That should be fun. And the Doctor meeting future Martha and Mickey. Oh there's so much to do…

Hope you enjoyed it! Please review!


	11. Chapter 11

**Title: **Beauty, the Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **I know, I know. This is late. Sorry guys I got extra busy and tired and just the teensiest bit distracted (if it's any consolation, I was distracted by a combination of semester finals and watching old episodes of _House_). I'd say it won't happen again, but it's been happening with annoying consistency on this story and my Dark Knight/Criminal Minds story so I'll TRY not to do it again, but all I can really do is apologize and say 11 days is better than a month, right?

Anyway, I know that last chapter left TONS of stuff unresolved and unanswered. That was to screw with you. I love doing that :P Just kidding. It was because everything happened too fast and I didn't want to slow everything down with an explanation YET. So that'll happen here.

Once again, thank you all for your reviews and support! You guys are amazing. And now, back to the story!

* * *

><p><strong>Beauty, the Beast<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eleven<strong>

* * *

><p>They caught up with Martha and Mickey in the parking lot where the couple had finally stopped to wait, Martha looking far more nervous than Mickey did at the moment. "Rossi, you and JJ take one SUV, Prentiss and I'll take the other with Mr. and Mrs. Smith,"<p>

He gave Martha and Mickey a hard look as he nodded his head in the direction of two bureau sanctioned, black SUVs and the agents split up as they were told, Martha and Mickey climbing into the back of one of vehicles behind Hotch.

As soon as they were in, Hotch made a call to Rossi and put the cellphone on speaker, "You know where we're headed?" he asked.

_"Of course, they're a few blocks away from the where JJ said she last saw them. Didn't Martha say something about warehouses?"_

Hotch glanced at her in the rearview mirror, nodding, "She did," he said, "She also said that she was still back in a warehouse with the alien,"

"Look," Martha slid forward, ignoring her seatbelt as they pulled onto the highway, "I can explain, really, it's a bit complicated though."

"How complicated?" Prentiss asked, turning around in her seat, "You're wearing a ring now, you weren't before. Your clothes, your hair –"

"Yeah, listen, I know it's strange, but… well, that's the Doctor for you. Nothing makes sense, not at first anyway. Sometimes not ever," Martha sighed and closed her eyes.

_"You said 'time isn't a straight line'," _JJ's voice came over the speaker, sounding lost in thought for a moment.

"She's right, and you said that it had been a long time since you'd seen us," Hotch's dark eyes left the road for a moment, "If you're here, but you're still at the warehouse with Reid and the alien… Are there two of you, or –"

"No," Martha shook her head and frowned, "Well, yes, but no. It's me, just… an earlier version of me."

"It's time travel," Mickey said, "Takes a while to get your head working around it, but that's what it is. The Doctor, his ship, it's a time machine, I've been inside it."

"Time machine," Prentiss said slowly, frowning, "So… the Martha that we met is… what? You're younger self? How does that work?"

"Alright, best to get this over with… Garcia ran a search on me, right? And she found Dr. Martha Jones, former UNIT employee, married to Mickey Smith. If she could get deep enough she might have found that I did some work with Torchwood too, but that's unlikely, Tosh was good at keeping the records secure… That's me. But the Martha Jones you met hasn't even passed her exams yet, she's never met Mickey Smith before or even heard of Torchwood…"

Martha bit her lip and glanced at Mickey, "You've got to be careful what you say to her, er, me. And to the Doctor. Foreknowledge is dangerous, and this is all his future, but our present and past. It's dangerous enough me being here with Mickey,"

_"So," _Rossi sounded confused and a little bit frustrated as he tried to rationalize everything they'd just been told, _"You're telling us that the Doctor is an alien with a time machine and you… what? Traveled through time with him when you were younger?"_

"I know it sounds mad, Rossi, but it's true. If I remember right, for me… the other me, that is, this is 2007. At least four years ago by your time. Seems more like a lifetime to me,"

_"Why's that?" _JJ asked curiously.

Mickey answered this time, "On the TARDIS, the Doctor's ship, time doesn't work the same. You can be with the Doctor for months and end up back home the next day, or be gone for a few days and end up back home a year later,"

Martha nodded, "It messes with your head sometimes, the way time gets all screwed up, but that's what the Doctor always says. Time isn't a straight line. It's… like a big tangle of knots all twisted together and you can't untangle it. It's constantly in flux, constantly shifting and changing and rewriting itself,"

"But…" Prentiss frowned suddenly, "If you were here before, if… you already went through this then, does that mean you know how this ends? Martha?"

Martha bit her lips again and looked unhappy and anxious, "It was four years ago for me, Prentiss and… actually, a bit longer really all things considered. You wouldn't believe the things that have happened since this, most of it's fuzzy. But even the things I do remember I can't tell you. We can't try to change what happens, not… not like that anyway. It would create a paradox and apparently rip a hole in the universe or something,"

Mickey smirked, "There's always something going to rip a hole in the universe when the Doctor's involved,"

_"Can you tell us anything? You survive, clearly, but… does Reid? Do you we stop the Aphrontian?" _JJ sounded anxious even over the phone and Martha sighed heavily, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, but… I can't risk it. Either way, time can still be rewritten and as far as I know this event isn't fixed. So… Just drive fast, alright? The faster you can drive, the better for all of us."

She met Hotch's eyes in the mirror and the agent nodded, pressing his foot down harder on the accelerator. Martha leaned back in the seat, watching buildings fly past out the window and hoping that she could remember where she and Reid were. She knew for a fact that they found them, she just wasn't clear on exactly when and she knew that the sooner they did the better.

Suddenly, Mickey spoke, a frown on his face, "Hold on, if this is you and the Doctor from 2007 then… how are we going to explain me?"

"Hm?" Martha frowned, looking over at her husband, well aware of Prentiss's eyes on them from the passenger seat.

"You know… 2007, that's _before _the Daleks and the reality bomb and… before we even meet. Isn't it? So as far as the Doctor knows, I'm still in Pete's world, with Jackie and Rose and Tony…"

Martha raised a brow, "Tony?"

"Jackie and Pete's baby, remember?"

"Right," Martha frowned, "I dunno. We can't tell him what happens… He hasn't even met Donna again yet, he doesn't know about Rose and the metacrisis, it could change everything if he found out…"

"Should I go then?"

"No," Martha frowned, "Of course not, I told you, I remember us being here, I just… I have no idea how I explained it to the Doctor."

"Just tell him you can't tell him," Prentiss said, smiling slightly when Martha and Mickey blinked at her.

"Sorry," she shrugged, "But still, you can't tell him. So tell him that. He's smart, he'd understand that, right?"

Martha smirked, "He'd be annoyed that we didn't tell him the whole story…" then she frowned, "And seeing Mickey would probably make him think of Rose. Right now he's still mourning her."

There was a tinge of bitterness in her voice, but she shrugged it off quickly and grasped Mickey's hand, "Anyway, we'll think of something, I'm sure. Besides, we've got bigger problems once we find Reid and me. The Aphrontian doesn't go down with a fight, I remember that."

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><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>Morgan was leaning against the side of the brick wall, waiting for the team to arrive and watching the Doctor frown, muttering to himself as he paced a few feet in front of him and ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up at odd angles.<p>

"How can Martha have escaped without Reid? How can she have escaped at all! ? It doesn't make any sense, what else did Agent Hotchner say?"

He suddenly whirled around, staring with wide, intense eyes at Morgan. The FBI agent straightened up and crossed his arms, "Just that Martha and her husband had been in the conference room when they got back and –"

"Husband!" The Doctor cut Morgan off, his eyes even larger, if that were possible. "Martha isn't married!"

"Yes she is," Morgan said, frowning at him, "It's in her file, she's been married about a year and a half now."

"A year and… Oh! Oh! How could I be so thick! Of course!" his eyes suddenly lit up and then he looked worried. "Oh, this is… this is very not good, Agent Morgan. This is bad, this is… this is more than bad. Two timestreams converging together at one time, two Martha Joneses in one place, at the same time!"

"Slow down!" Morgan frowned, grabbing the Doctor by his shoulders and holding his pacing form still, "What are you talking about?"

"It's like… time travel," he said suddenly, nodding.

Morgan raised a brow, "Time travel?"

"Yep, time travel," the Doctor nodded, "You asked what Time Lords are, well, there's your answer."

"You're… a time traveler?"

"Mhm,"

"Okay," Morgan nodded slowly, "Time Lords are time travelers, makes sense I guess. What does that have to do with Martha and her husband?"

"The Martha your team just met is the Martha from now, understand? She's the Martha from 2011. Married, apparently. And whatever else she is. So what does that tell you, Agent Morgan? C'mon, you're a smart man, _think!"_

Morgan frowned, scrutinizing the Doctor's face for a moment, "…She's the Martha from now?"

"Yes, and I'm a time traveler and Martha is my companion," the Doctor said, nodding slowly, watching as the ideas slowly connected in Morgan's mind.

"So, the Martha we met is… from the past then? So there are two Marthas? Here?"

The Doctor grinned, nodding, "Yes! I knew you'd get it! And that is very, very bad. Two Marthas, one from 2007, one from 2011, both together in the same place, crossing their own timestream. It could rip the universe apart. Of course, if we're lucky, it won't, but only if we're very, very lucky and send Martha number two back home with her husband and get Martha number one safely back in the TARDIS with me,"

"Alright," Morgan nodded, still not sure that he fully grasped the situation. His mind was still trying to really accept aliens, now he had aliens, time travelers, converging timestreams – which apparently was a very bad thing – and his best friend was still missing. Before tonight was over he was sure he would pass out.

"Then we'd better find Martha and Reid fast,"

The Doctor nodded and was about to say something when he suddenly pulled the sonic screwdriver to his ear, frowning.

"What is it?"

"The TARDIS is signaling me, I set her scanners to automatically pick up and Aphrontian energy spikes… They've turned the machine on again!"

Morgan still didn't think he followed one hundred percent of what the Doctor was saying but he knew that the Aphrontian turning on its machine was definitely bad for someone. "We've got to find it!"

"We can, I just need to get to my ship, how long is your team going to –"

Before the words could even fully leave his mouth, two SUVs pulled onto the curb and the doors sprang open revealing Hotch, Rossi, JJ, Prentiss and then Martha and Mickey Smith. Martha practically ran to the Doctor, hugging him while he stood, stone still, eyes wide as he stared at Mickey.

She let her arms drop and stepped back, "Sorry, I just… It's been so long,"

The Doctor nodded, "Right, of course… For you."

She nodded, "I –"

"You really shouldn't be here, Martha, you know that! This is dangerous!"

"Well I didn't know this was _that_ case!" Martha protested, "Not until it was too late, what was I supposed to do? Tell them no, sorry, I can't cross my timestream, it'll blow up the universe?"

"Yes," The Doctor nodded, "That's exactly what you should've said, but more importantly than that, I have some questions…" His eyes were suddenly back to Mickey, something very unreadable in them as he stared.

"How did Mickey Smith get here and why are you married to him?"

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>She'd had her back turned to them for nearly fifteen minutes. Reid wasn't sure how much longer the machine would need to cool down, but it couldn't be too much longer. Anna's body had been found hours ago, meaning the machine would be ready to use soon enough. And Martha would be the first to go.<p>

He felt as if his brain was banging against his skull and moving too much made his vision a bit blurry, but he couldn't just sit there while Martha was in danger. He wished he still had his revolver. He didn't know for sure that it'd do any good against an Aphrontian, but it would have been worth a try at least. As it was, he was bound, in pain and totally defenseless.

He looked back over at Martha and found her wide brown eyes staring at him with worry and fear. One more quick glance showed him that the Aphrontian still had her back to them, her eyes glued to her machine with a twisted kind of delight and a scary amount of impatience. Reid took a deep breath and pushed himself up as quietly as possible, biting down on his lip to keep from crying out as the change in position made his head ache even more.

It felt like hours before he was on his feet, admittedly a bit shaky in the knees. He leaned back against the metal wall and closed his eyes for a second, taking deep breaths and slowly shifting away from the wall.

He kept his gaze on the Aphrontian the entire time, grateful that she had so far not noticed him moving. He quickly looked back to Martha, who was watching him and the alien with an anxious gaze, her eyes darting between the two of them. Reid could see the release for the metal bindings on Martha's arms, but he wasn't sure exactly how to work them. It looked like he just had to push the button on the side and they'd pop open, but he didn't really know.

The Aphrontian leaned forward and crooned something to the machine and Reid realized this was his one and only chance so he moved toward Martha as quickly as he could, hoping beyond hope that he was fast enough as the alien spotted the quick movement and let out an inhuman shriek that did nothing for his headache.

He had to turn his back to use his hands, still cuffed together, and closed his eyes, blindly pressing his palm against what he hoped was the release he'd seen. He didn't see whether or not it had worked, the Aphrontian moved faster than he'd ever expected and grabbed him by the throat, hissing something in a language he didn't recognize as she slammed him against the wall. He could feel the force of the clash reverberating in his head. His vision, already blurry, was going dark and fuzzy.

He was going to lose consciousness soon. He tried to pull away from her slim fingers at his throat, her fingernails digging into his skin and drawing blood. She was strong, far stronger than she looked. Her eyes were definitely not blue anymore either: they were a glowing, phosphorous green.

She said something else, but he didn't hear it, whether she was speaking English or whatever language her species spoke. He felt as if he were underwater, he couldn't see or hear well and his lungs were bursting inside his chest, begging for air.

Suddenly a dark shadow appeared behind the hissing alien and he could breathe again as he crumbled to the floor and cool hands touched his face, lifting him up.

"Are you alright?" Martha was repeating over and over as she looked at the agent. His eyes were tightly shut and he was gasping for air, gulping it down greedily as his chest strained to keep up.

"F-Fine," he choked hoarsely, blinking back tears of pain and forcing himself to stand up straight. It was dark and Reid wasn't sure if that was his vision or if the lights had gone off. Either way, he didn't see any sign of the alien in the room.

"Where… where is she?" he cracked.

"Dunno," Martha supported Reid with one arm while she looked around the room, "I hit her in the head with this," she held up a long metal tube, "And then I picked you up… she's still here somewhere."

"We need to get out of –" Before Reid could finish the sentence something heavy shoved into them and knocked them to the ground and a moment later the room was filled with the buzzing, whirring noises as the menacing machine lit up and the Aphrontian stood beside it, sapphire eyes glowing oddly in the dim lights.

Martha dragged Reid back to his feet and tugged him forward, but they were both disoriented and not fast enough as she darted forward, holding something in her hand that looked like a long rubber tube that looked like a vacuum hose. The tool glittered in the light and nearly found its way into Martha's chest but Reid shoved the young woman aside and then grimaced and screamed as it attached itself to his arm.

"Spencer!" Martha reached out to pull the thing off of him, but the alien grabbed her by her hair and pulled her away from the screaming, thrashing FBI agent and tossed her across the room. She hit the metal table and grimaced, holding her head and her side as they throbbed with pain and she forced herself to stand up.

"Oh give up, sweetie!" the Aphrontian sighed heavily, "It's over, really. He's not going to last much longer and then it's your turn… Just accept it."

Martha back away as the alien neared her as she felt her legs slam into a small table. Glancing down she saw needles, knifes and other surgical looking things. She remembered what the Doctor had said about the machine being like donating blood…

"Is this…" she winced, "Is this a medical ship?"

"Ooh, your clever too!" the Aphrontian was closer and Reid's screams were getting louder and harder to bear. Martha slipped a hand behind her, wrapping her fingers around what she hoped was a scalpel or something that could be used a weapon readily.

"I knew I smelled something on you,"

Martha wasn't really listening as the alien drew within arm's length of where she was standing. She took a deep breath as the Aphrontian took another step forward she lunged and plunged a tiny scalpel like tool into her leg, eliciting an angry shriek as she dove past her and ripped the tube from Reid's arm, amazed that there was no mark on his skin at all.

Reid was breathing heavily, his entire body shaking. Martha gripped him tightly and rushed forward toward the exit, "C'mon, Spencer, we've got to get out of here,"

But they didn't make it to the exit before the angry Aphrontian, blond curls a mess, sapphire eyes that glowing green again, mouth open to reveal startling white fangs, was in front of the door.

"I don't think so, sweetheart. I _told _you to just accept this. You're making it far harder than it needs to be,"

* * *

><p><strong>~DWCM~**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hm. I feel better about this chapter than last chapter at least. And it's a bit longer as an apology for taking so long with it.

So… Hm. Don't know what to say. Excited for next chapter though. The team gets to see the TARDIS. :D Yay. And soon (not sure if it'll happen next chapter, probably not) you'll even get to hear what's causing Reid's headaches. Double yay!

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed it! Forgive me for the delay and please review!


	12. Chapter 12

**Title: **Beauty, the Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **See, I told you guys the chapters just keep coming late. Sorry AGAIN for making you guys wait. It has not been the best couple of weeks what with a broken air conditioner and finals (FINALLY OVER) and stupid family issues. *sigh* Still, summer at least means more free time for writing, even if I am being slightly idiotic and writing 3 stories at once. It's better to have a chapter every week or two than no new chapters at all. At least I hope so…

Anyway, thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews! And again, sorry the lateness of the chapters. I hate taking so long, but life just keeps getting in the way.

Now, onto chapter 12!

* * *

><p><strong>Beauty, the Beast<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Twelve<strong>

* * *

><p>There was a tense silence that seemed to hang in the air for a moment before Mickey stepped forward, apparently about to say something. Martha was quicker. "We can't tell you,"<p>

"Can't tell me?" the Doctor raised a brow. "You married Mickey Smith and you can't tell me how he even got here?"

Martha sighed and closed her eyes, "You know I can't, Doctor. It's the future. _Your _future. You're the one who taught me about foreknowledge and how dangerous it can be. I know you want me to tell you, but you know I can't tell. Even if I hadn't promised you that I wouldn't,"

The Doctor eyed her skeptically for a moment, "You're right," he said, he didn't look happy, but he knew there wasn't anything he could really do about it. Martha was right. Foreknowledge was dangerous and as curious as he was, he couldn't risk any more damage. Two Marthas was bad enough, but there was one question he had to ask.

"If Mickey's here…" he said slowly, "What about Rose? Is she alright? Is she here too?"

The look on Martha's face was hard to really describe. This Martha had gotten over her feelings for the Doctor a long time ago, but this Doctor still had so much more to go before he'd be really okay. She could see a look of desperation in his eyes and some part of her knew that he'd probably risk the universe if it meant seeing Rose again. A small, annoying surge of jealously sparked inside her chest, but she expertly crushed it. She had Mickey and she was happy.

"I'm sorry," she said, taking a deep breath and meeting the Doctor's eyes. "I can't tell you anything."

The Doctor nodded, "Right, of course, of course…" the sonic screwdriver made another whirring sound and he suddenly snapped back into action, every trace of emotion suddenly leaving his face.

"We need to get to the TARDIS. Now,"

He motioned quickly toward the SUVs and they all crowded in, Martha and Mickey riding with Hotch and Rossi this time. Morgan, JJ, Prentiss and the Doctor in the other.

"The TARDIS? That's your ship, right?" Prentiss asked, glancing over at the Doctor as he nodded absently. His eyes were focused out the window and he only spoke to tell Morgan how to find the TARDIS. He would've insisted on driving, but he figured they wouldn't let him anyway and contented himself to doing everything he could to _not _attempt to figure out how Martha had somehow ended up with Mickey the Idiot. He should probably not call him that, now that he thought about it.

It took them several precious minutes to arrive at the alley where Martha and the Doctor had parked the TARDIS. The FBI agents climbed out and frowned when they spotted nothing in the alley except a small wooden box with warn blue paint. Martha smiled as she laid eyes on it. It had been such a long time since she'd seen her, especially like this. The last time she'd been inside the TARDIS the Doctor had had a different face entirely.

She glanced cautiously at the Doctor before her now and gripped Mickey's hand for support. The Doctor was angry with her and he was brooding. That was never a good thing, but unlike the others, Mickey included, she knew what was going to happen soon and she was having a difficult time keeping that to herself.

"_This _is a spaceship?" Rossi looked at the TARDIS skeptically and the Doctor instinctively narrowed his eyes and puffed his chest, his voice defensive.

"Of course she is! What's wrong with her?"

Rossi blinked and glanced at Hotch, mouthing the word 'her?' and shaking his head. He still wasn't sure he trusted the Doctor, but the appearance of Martha and Mickey had at least shaken his stubborn contempt.

"C'mon," the Doctor led the way and Martha and Mickey were right behind him, each of them having missed being inside the ship. The Doctor pushed the doors open unceremoniously, and rushed inside to the console, leaving the FBI agents outside without a word.

Martha sighed and shook her head. "He's normally more excited when someone sees the inside for the first time," she explained, "Just… come inside and have a look. You won't doubt anything he says again."

"You expect us to all fit in there?" JJ asked, raising a brow.

"That's insane," Morgan agreed, eyeing the wooden blue box. When the Doctor had said he had a spaceship/time machine this was certainly not what he'd pictured.

Mickey grinned a bit, "Nah, really, just come have a look. I almost had a panic attack when I first saw it…" he trailed off and looked down a little awkwardly and Martha smiled at him as she tugged him along, leading the agents to the doors.

The team paused outside but only for a second. They needed to find Reid and… the other Martha before something happened. From the way Martha was talking, things didn't come to a nice conclusion already and they weren't going to let anything happen that they could stop.

JJ and Prentiss stepped through the doors first, followed closely by Morgan, Rossi and Hotch. Martha and Mickey were watching them, but the Doctor was busy pressing buttons and squinting at the monitor from behind his glasses.

JJ and Prentiss let out surprised gasps, mouths hanging open slightly as they took in the impossibly large space, trying to fit it inside the small blue box they'd just walked into. Hotch blinked a few times, staring around the control room, the coral-like columns that seemed to grow out of the floor. The Doctor's overcoat was handing haphazardly over one the columns despite the coatrack that stood beside the doors.

Morgan just shook his head, looking up at the huge ceiling. The tiny, rational part of his mind that was still rebelling against all of this new information told him he had to be dreaming or drugged. There was no way any of this was possible and yet it was there, staring right at him. Real and solid and surprisingly not going anywhere as he pressed a hand against the sturdy column next to him.

Rossi's jaw was working oddly, opening and closing like a fish trying to catch air on a dock. His closed his eyes once and opened them again, shocked to find that he was still seeing the same huge, immense room before him. He wanted to ask how it was possible, but wasn't sure he'd appreciate the answer. This just didn't seem like it could really be there, but if he was hallucinating them so was the rest of the team and that was unlikely.

JJ was the first to recover as she turned her blue eyes around the space in wonder, "We have got to let Garcia see this when we're done," she said. Her voice was faint, awed as she stared around the space and Martha smiled, nodding in agreement. She remembered Garcia very clearly.

"I know, I know, it's bigger on the inside. Good, now, close the doors we don't have much time," the Doctor half snapped, only taking his eyes off the monitor for a moment to look back over at "future" Martha and Mickey. His eyes were slightly narrowed and suspicious and Martha sighed, closing the TARDIS doors behind them and feeling a familiar sense of nostalgia wash over her as the TARDIS engines whirred into action.

"I've got a lock on the signal, but I don't know how long it'll last," he glanced at the still somewhat in shock team of FBI agents. He couldn't really remember the last time he'd had this many people on the TARDIS at once.

"You might want to hold on to something," he said finally, keeping his eyes glued to the screen, "Might get a big bumpy, she's not eager to get near the power source."

Before any of them could actually take the Doctor's advice, however, the TARDIS had already jolted roughly, sending them all stumbling and knocking JJ and Morgan to the floor. Mickey caught Martha before she could fall and the Doctor was holding onto the console. Hotch and Rossi steadied themselves against the columns and Prentiss was lucky enough to stumble into the controls without landing on her face.

"Sorry," the Doctor said absently, "I told you, she's a bit nervous…"

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>Reid was leaning heavily against Martha. His legs felt weak and his knees were slightly bent, nearly ready to buckle underneath him. He wasn't entirely sure what the machine did, but he felt weak and his headache seemed to have only gotten worse, his thoughts muddle and odd pictures passing in his mind's eye. He was half terrified that he was hallucinating and he grit his teeth and struggled to stay upright in Martha's grip.<p>

"See?" the Aphrontian was smiling what would have been a reassuring smile on anyone else, but the crazed, hungry look in her no longer blue eyes was more than a little bit freaky. "He can hardly stand. It's over, just stop fighting."

Martha was breathing hard, her chest feeling far too tight. She tried to think of some way out of this, but unless a miracle – or the Doctor – happened soon, there didn't seem to be much hope. Especially not with Reid still unable to walk on his own properly. What they needed was a way to stall her, but she wasn't sure how she was supposed to do that. Reid solved the problem for her.

"How… how d-did you get here?" he asked, his voice raspy with pain and weakness. Anything to keep her talking, buy them more time. He knew the team would find them soon. He had faith in that fact.

Her eyes narrowed and she frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Here," Reid gasped, feeling just a little bit stronger. Not enough to stand on his own, but enough to stand up straight. However the machine worked, it clearly was only lethal if left attached for a certain amount of time. At least, that was he was hoping.

"On Earth. How did you get here? Why us?"

The Aphrontian tilted her head and Martha bit her lip anxiously, hoping she'd talk. Anything to give the Doctor enough time.

"Hmm… interesting question. I was exiled from my own planet so I came here," she answered, shrugging.

"Why here?" Martha frowned, "There's got to be billions of other planets out there, why you'd come to Earth?"

"Because it's far away," she said absently, "Because I find you humans fascinating and beautiful… Oh there are so many reasons, sweetheart, but I doubt you'll find any comfort in any of them."

"Why?" Reid asked, pushing himself up straighter. His head was pounding a little less furiously, but for the briefest of moments he could swear he'd heard someone laughing, a manic, almost desperate kind of laugh that made him shiver. But that was just his imagination… He wasn't going crazy. He refused to accept that.

"Why what?"

"Why do you find us so fascinating?"

Her lips twitched into another of those odd, frightening smiles. "There are hundreds of millions of other species and peoples out there that your planet hasn't even _begun _to understand yet, but of all of them human beings are uniquely… human. You're animals, just like a great deal of life on this planet, but with sentience. You fight wars and fall in love and the emotions your species run through… it's a wonder you've ever accomplished anything," she sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, "All the hormones that assault your bodies it's like an explosion. I've never experienced anything like it and I never want to stop experiencing it…"

"So," Martha frowned, "You're killing these girls so that you can live forever and always feel human emotions?"

"Well, it sounds awful when you say it that way," she shook her head, "But… I suppose that's about right. Now, let go of your friend and step back sweetheart. This doesn't have to be more painful than it already is."

Martha glanced down at Reid hoping that he'd have some answer, some new idea. He looked a bit steadier on his feet, but still in pain and weak. There was no way they'd be able to fight her off and run for it again. She opened her mouth, not sure what she was going to say when a noise stopped her and made the Aphrontian tense. The most wonderful, amazing sound in the world. Martha never thought she'd be so thrilled to hear the TARDIS engines whirring.

_VWOOP_

_VWOOP_

_VWOOP_

_VWOOP_

Behind the alien's head Martha spotted the blue box materializing and she grinned, letting out a sigh of relief as the Aphrontian spun on her heels and stared at it.

"_What _is that?" she demanded.

Martha was too busy being relieved to answer as the doors were pulled open and the Doctor stepped out, sonic screwdriver in hand, that annoying yet wonderful grin on his face as he spotted them both.

"Martha! Reid! Alright?"

"Fine, yeah, aside from her almost killing us both," Martha said, still breathing a bit heavily.

The Doctor turned his eyes to the Aphrontian, "Hello," he said, still grinning despite the dark look that had swept into his eyes. "I'm the Doctor and you… are in trouble."

* * *

><p><strong>~DWCM~**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hmm… Another cliffhanger. Ah well, you guys got a new chapter and we're very close to learning more. The escape/rescue isn't going to QUITE as easy as it appears right now, don't worry. I cut it off there because next chapter will be a bit complicated and hopefully by chapter 14 I'll be explaining the headaches…

Hope you enjoyed! Please review!


	13. Chapter 13

**Title: **Beauty, the Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **Less late than last time, but still late again. Sorry guys! Working on multiple stories slows me down more than I want to admit I suppose. Not to mention the annoying fact that my muse is still in love with Sherlock/Criminal Minds crossovers and wants to write those instead of anything else I should be working on.

But thanks to everyone for all of the lovely reviews and comments! You guys are fantastic and I love you! :3

Also, this story is about to start winding down. Could be wrong, but that's what I'm thinking. But don't worry too much because I already have plans to write a sequel and a prequel (the need for the prequel will be understood by the end of this fic).

Anyway, hope you enjoy and please don't forget to review!

* * *

><p><strong>Beauty, the Beast<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Thirteen<strong>

* * *

><p>The Aphrontian's luminous green eyes fixed on the Doctor and a frown tugged her lips as she looked him up and down. Behind him, she could see a group of people exiting the blue box that had materialized there. Police officers by the looks of the guns at their hips. She thought it was strange that none of them had drawn their weapons.<p>

"Am I?" she asked, the frown starting to tip back up into a smirk. "Why's that?"

The Doctor was eerily calm, his eyes the only thing that gave away the anger and rage that was coursing through him. He was practically buzzing with it as he fixed her with a dark, stern look. "You're people are peaceful; what made you turn to murder?"

She was fully, openly smiling now. Her eyes flickered back to the agents behind him. They were all very tense, obviously anxious. Their hands were all twitching toward their guns. "I think your friends want to shoot me," she said, still grinning. Spencer and Martha were breathing heavily behind her, staying quiet. Reid's head was killing him and his vision was still swimming and Martha was still helping him to stay standing despite his slowly returning strength.

The Doctor only glanced back at the BAU members, keeping his attention on the Aphrontian. "They aren't going to shoot you unless you try to hurt our friends, which would be very stupid of you considering you're trapped here."

She glanced around, "I suppose you have a point…" she said slowly, "But I've never been one to simply give up, you see and I _always _have a backup plan."

The Doctor raised a brow, "This is a medical ship," he said, ignoring her comment, "Were you a nurse? A doctor? Why even come to Earth in the first place?"

"She was exiled," Martha answered, "Said she came here because humans were fascinating."

The Doctor frowned, "Exiled? Aphrontians only exile their most dangerous criminals…" He scrutinized the alien before him, "What did you do?"

That smile of hers turned into a dangerously sinister smirk, "The same thing I'm doing here," she said, fluttering her lashes over the glowing green eyes that were so very out of place on the impossibly beautiful human face. "Try to stay young and beautiful forever."

"Forever?" there was a small shift in the Doctor's expression. "You want to live forever?"

"Who wouldn't?" she asked, eyes blazing, widening fractionally as she flashed her white teeth. "To be immortal, to last forever, young and beautiful and so full of these delightful human hormones…" she sighed and her eyes closed for a moment. "It's _wonderful!_"

The Doctor smiled at her, a sad sort of smile, slightly bitter. He shook his head, "Wonderful? Is that really what you think?"

She just grinned at him, "Absolutely," she said, "To never age and never die and to feel all of this forever." She sighed and her smile softened as she tucked a fallen golden curl behind her ear. She looked extremely relaxed, too relaxed with the FBI agents wielding guns, itching to pull them on her.

The Doctor gave her a sympathetic look and Martha thought back to Professor Lazarus. Clearly a sore spot for the Doctor. "It's not as wonderful as you think,"

She raised a brow, staring at the Doctor skeptically, "And you'd know all about that?" she asked.

He nodded, "I'm older than you can imagine," he said quietly, "So old. When you've lived as long I have you realize that life isn't meant to go on this long. Losing people, wandering around. Alone. I've seen entire civilizations ended and begun…" he closed his eyes and that sad look became somehow even more forlorn, "After you see all of that life and death you can't appreciate living anymore. You forget what it used to feel like to be truly alive. Might as well be dead."

The Aphrontian smiled faintly, pursing her lips for a moment and tossing her head back, laughing a high, tinkling laugh. "You really think you can convince me I'm wrong? To live forever, to be a goddess… How can any downside not be worth it?"

"It's not worth it," the Doctor said quietly. He could feel the agents behind him, getting restless. Spencer was standing on his own now, but he still looked like he was in pain. His headaches were getting worse. "It's really not."

"Oh, I think I'll be the judge of that," she said, her smile plastered on her face. The Doctor started to say something else, wanting to convince her that she was wrong. Convince her to stop what she was doing and go somewhere else. No more lives lost, no more blood spilt. Simple, easy solution. But how often was anything that simple when the Doctor was involved?

In a move so fast none of them saw it coming, she spun around and reached into an open cabinet, her hand darting in a fast-paced blur she whipped out what may have been a gun and the small metal space rang with the sound of shots being fired, cackling as a bright light burst from the end of the weapon.

The Doctor had just enough time to duck out of the way and the agents frantically yanked their guns out, Hotch yelling, "Get down! All of you!" as she laughed and fired another shot.

Martha's eyes darted around for anything she could use as a weapon but Reid tugged her arm, pulling them both to the ground just in time for her to narrowly avoid being hit by the blast. Spencer, however, wasn't so lucky and he grimaced, clutching side where his shirt was singed. Martha half-carried Reid around the table and they settled there, cringing when they heard a gun go off – one of the team this time, that was unmistakably a man-made gun.

"Let me see," Martha said, gently tugging at the shirt to see. The wound looked very unlike a gunshot wound. The skin was, mercifully, not broken, but it was an angry red and black color and she could smell the burn flesh. So whatever kind of weapon it was, it fired some kind of laser apparently.

Her eyes darted to the table and the medical supplies there. Maybe there was something she could use to cover his wound. She crawled forward, a shot singeing her hair as she moved. She ducked and held still for a long moment, jumping up quickly to grab a roll of what looked like gauze. Her eyes searched the table for something else that might be helpful, but another shot just over her head made her duck down again and she hurried back to Reid.

"Stop shooting!"

That was the Doctor. She smiled and shook her head. Even now he couldn't really stand the idea of violence. Made sense she supposed. But still, if the FBI didn't fire back they all certainly die. She ignored the sounds of the firefight and the Doctor's angry, upset voice trying to get everyone to stop shooting.

Turning her attention to Reid she saw the way his face scrunched up in pain and bit her lip, unrolling the gauze like material. It wasn't really gauze, she realized as she ran her fingers over it. It was thinner, softer. Stronger, oddly enough.

"Can you sit up a little straighter?" she asked, trying to get Reid's coat off his shoulders. He grimaced and complied, helping her as best he could, fingers fumbling with his shirt buttons so that she could pull the fabric aside more easily to get the gauze on the injury.

Martha chewed her lip, wishing she had antiseptic or anything besides just the gauzy material to apply. She would just have to work with what she had.

The injury was larger than she'd originally thought; a good four inches wide and two long. She winced internally when she saw it, but did her best to get the gauze around it. She was going to look around for tape but she found that the material stuck together almost instantly and stayed where it was put. She smiled faintly at that; imagine how helpful that would be to human doctors.

"I imagine it'll be a bit painful for a while," Martha said, "Not really an expert on laser wounds."

Reid smiled a pained smile, "Thank you," he said, tugging his jacket back on around his shoulder and leaning his head back, closing his eyes. "My head…"

Martha eyed him sympathetically, "When we're done… when this over, I mean, maybe the Doctor can help. I think he might have an idea about what's wrong,"

Reid just forced another smile and kept his eyes closed. Martha sighed and sat up on her knees. She could just make out Rossi and Prentiss kneeling across the room beside the TARDIS. Prentiss was shoving a new clip into her gun. The evidence of the shoot-out was all over the tiny metal ship, the sounds echoing and bouncing off the walls, bullet holes riddling the walls, scored laser marks marring the surface.

Suddenly there was a pained, earsplitting scream and Martha gasped as the Aphrontian stumbled back and hit the table, jarring her and Spencer a couple of inches forward. There was a loud groan and a dull thud and Martha swallowed nervously, hedging around the table while the BAU slowly stood, anxiously staring at the still body.

Martha pressed her lips together and put her fingers against the pale throat, ignoring the greenish black blood pouring from the wound. So the disguise wasn't a mirage or a hologram then… She sat back on her heels and looked up, surprised to see the Doctor's anxious face in front of her.

"She's dead," she whispered.

The look on the Doctor's face was hard to describe. Disappointment, pity, anger.

He reached out with that sad look on his face and gently closed her eyes, shaking his head. "We never even learned her name…"

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>Martha and Mickey were waiting inside the TARDIS as per the Doctor's orders. Martha had wanted to go out immediately, but the Doctor told them that it was best if they stayed put. It was bad enough that two Marthas were there at all, to have them in the same room would be bad. The TARDIS was the safest place for them to be at the same time. Much less risk involved.<p>

And Mickey had been adamant that Martha stay safe anyway, considering the dangers involved.

When the shooting started Martha had rushed to the door, not opening it, but staring out the window. She couldn't make out much, just blurry movements and figures.

"Martha," Mickey stood from where he'd been leaning against the controls, "Come on, you know we can't go out there. The Doctor said to stay put."

"I know," she sighed and followed him back to the controls, "I remember this part… Spencer gets hurt."

"Is he going to be alright?" Mickey asked, "You can tell me, Martha. I won't tell the Doctor, I swear."

She smiled at him, "He'll be fine. It was a nasty looking wound but it heals. It's… It's the Doctor I'm worried about. This doesn't exactly end ideally."

Mickey sighed and squeezed her hand, "As long as you're alright, how bad could it be?"

Her eyes flickered to Mickey's and her smile waned, "She dies, Mickey. The Aphrontian. She started firing this… laser gun, I guess. Never did get a good look at the thing. Then the BAU starts shooting and there's loads of confusion. The Doctor was hit once… Don't think he even noticed, but it burned a hole through his trouser leg. He heals faster than we do though so…"

She was half babbling now, but Mickey listened and nodded. "He'll be fine, Martha. He's the Doctor. Besides, you saw him a few months ago, remember? So everything is alright."

She sighed, "Later, sure. But Mickey, he doesn't know what's about to happen. God, I forgot how close it was. They're about to be in so much danger… Worse than he's ever been in, at least with me. I hate not being able to tell him."

Mickey kissed her lightly on the lips while outside, the firing stopped. "Tell me then," he said gently, "Get it off your chest…"

She shook her head, "I already told you about it. The election, the end of the universe, all that, remember? It's right around the corner and I can't even warn him about it."

"Don't," Mickey said, "It works out, alright? We can't tell him anything or we could risk changing it all forever."

She nodded sadly and blinked when the TARDIS doors were suddenly thrown open and the Doctor marched in, a grim look on his face, followed by Reid and "past" Martha. The rest of the BAU members were still outside when the doors shut and the Doctor began pressing buttons.

Martha was helping Reid to sit down when she got a good look at the two newcomers and her hands fell from underneath the young agent, allowing him to slide down into the seat as she gaped. "Is that… Are you… Doctor…" she turned bewildered eyes onto the upset Time Lord.

"She's you from the future, well from _now _really," he said, "Martha, meet Martha." He waved his hand between them, "Oh and Mickey. Meet Mickey too. Have fun explaining that one to her without screwing it up."

"Future" Martha sent the Doctor an angry look, "What's wrong with you? I didn't have anything to do with what happened out there!"

"No, but you could've warned me! You could've tried to stop it!"

"No I couldn't!" Martha protested, "Doctor… You made me promise not to interfere. You are the reason I know how dangerous it is that both of us are here at the same time. You know I couldn't have told you anything!"

The Doctor remained tightlipped and upset while "past" Martha slid into the seat next to Spencer, "You're me from… my future then? What are you doing here?"

"Future" Martha sighed turning away from the Doctor who was clearly going to ignore her and glower at her until he got over it. She leaned against the column next to Mickey, "I can't tell you that. Paradox and all that. I probably shouldn't be here, but I know for a fact I stay for a while."

"Can you tell me anything?" she asked, looking up as the TARDIS made an odd noise and nearly jolted her off the seat as they landed. "What was that?"

"TARDIS doesn't like having you two on board," the Doctor said, "It'd be better if you two left quickly."

"We don't leave yet," Martha said, "We have to stay for a little while longer. There's more that has to happen."

"This isn't fixed, Martha, you can leave now."

"It has to happen exactly like it did, Doctor," Martha insisted, "You made me promise to stay and make sure of that. I'm sorry, I'm not leaving yet." She crossed her arms stubbornly and the Doctor started to argue when Reid let out a groan.

"Past" Martha leaned forward, putting a gentle hand on his head, "Is it your head again?"

He nodded and the Doctor eyed him anxiously.

"Doctor, can you help him?" she asked, looking up at him. "There's got to be something that you can do?"

He eyed the young agent carefully and sighed, "I'll try to help him. But we've got to finish this first… I need to get UNIT to the scene. They can deal with the Aphrontian."

Martha frowned, "Why didn't you just ask me to call them then? I can –"

"No," the Doctor shook his head, "I'll get Garcia to call them in, then we'll get back to her ship and you and Mickey are leaving."

"Future" Martha sighed heavily as he waltzed out of the TARDIS, leaving them alone. She peaked out the door curiously and realized that they were on the sidewalk just outside of the FBI building. She wondered why he hadn't just landed in the building itself, but then realized he was probably trying to avoid having to explain too much.

She sighed and glanced back at her past-self, who was watching her curiously. She could see the questions buzzing around in her head and remembered how much she'd wanted to ask them back then. It was so strange to see herself like this. Still young and, dare she even think it, still naïve. Still pining for the Doctor as well. She found herself desperately wanting to tell herself to get over him. He was never going to reciprocate the feelings and she found someone to love her. Someone she loved. She glanced at Mickey and back at herself, wanting to tell her everything, but knowing she couldn't.

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>No one was really sure who had actually fired the shot that killed her. They would have to wait for autopsy and ballistics reports to find out. If they got a chance to read the autopsy results, that is. The Doctor had taken Martha and Reid with him to go see Garcia and contact UNIT. Hotch had told him they could just call her, but the Doctor had insisted that he needed to go. The agents all stayed behind with the scene, none of them wanting to leave it.<p>

"It's not like we had a choice," Prentiss said quietly, avoiding looking at the body. They'd killed UnSubs before, but the way the Doctor was acting made them think they'd just committed first degree murder.

"She fired first," Hotch agreed, the only one of them who was still looking at the dead alien. His dark eyes were storming though his face remained stoic and stone-like.

"We could've tried to injure her," JJ whispered, saying what most of them were thinking. "Instead of killing her."

"We don't even know who actually killed her," Morgan argued, "It was just a lucky shot." He fidgeted. He was almost positive it was his shot that had killed her. He couldn't be one hundred percent sure, not when there had been so many other shots fired in the same direction and roughly the same time, but he was nearly sure anyway.

"Or unlucky," Rossi said, "For her at least."

They fell silent again. Everyone was uncomfortable. The Aphrontian's dark blood was pooling around her, staining the dress she was wearing and the floor beneath her. It was already starting to congeal and her already pale skin was even paler as the blood seeped out of her. They'd thought the Doctor had looked upset when they mentioned Canary Wharf, but the look in his eyes when he had gone back to the TARDIS was awful.

Somehow, it made them all feel guilty, despite the fact that they'd done their job, the same as they would for any other UnSub. It always made things a little more hard to deal with when they ended up having to kill the UnSub, but they had no other choice, just like they had no other choice here.

Hotch had tried to explain that to the Doctor, but he'd just told them that there was always another choice. Things didn't have to end in death.

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>Garcia had been sitting in her office since the team had left, going to confront an alien serial killer. She had spent most of her time staring at her phone, anxiously waiting for a call to let her know that they'd found Reid and Martha and everything was alright. Because everything had to be alright. Right? She hated this part of the job, the waiting and worrying. It drove her to her wit's end, thinking about her babies out there, remembering all the horrible crime scene photos that she'd had to view over the years. It never got any easier.<p>

She spun around in her chair when the door was opened and she frowned, springing to her feet when the Doctor entered. "What happened? Are they okay? Did you find Reid?"

He held up a hand to stop her, "They're fine. Everyone." His voice sounded a bit strained and Garcia narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you lying to me, because you don't look happy and if everything was fine and everyone was okay, shouldn't you be happy?"

"I'm… relieved the killing will stop," he said slowly. "And everyone is okay. I need you to contact UNIT headquarters. Tell them there's a body they'll need to clean up and that Martha will explain it to them when they get here."

Garcia blinked, "A body?"

"The Aphrontian," he said, voice still a bit strained.

"Oh," she sank back into her seat and made the call, explaining in a rushed manner everything she knew. It took about ten minutes, apparently the UNIT director was not happy to let anyone leave – they must've been in the middle of something extremely important – but finally agreed to send a couple of people to see to it.

"Thank you," the Doctor said, turning to leave.

"Wait," Garcia called him back, frowning, "You do know you could've just called me. Or UNIT. I'm sure Martha knows how to contact them.

He sighed, "I didn't want to stand there with the body any longer," he said, again turning to leave.

"You're going back to the team now?" Garcia asked.

"I have to drop Martha and Mickey off, yes," he said slowly, frowning as she stood up again, grabbing her bag.

"I'm going with you," she said, not bothering to wait for a response as she walked out the door before him. The Doctor felt a smile touch his lips and he nodded, following her out the door. He hadn't gotten to spend much time with Garcia on the case, but he decided he certainly liked her as they exited the building and approached the TARDIS.

She frowned curiously as he unlocked the doors and started to step inside.

"This is the time machine?" she asked, frowning at the wooden box. "How does it… fly?"

He did smile then, "Doesn't fly. Disappears here, reappears there. Difficult to explain. Are you coming?"

She nodded resolutely and didn't even pause to wonder how they were supposed to fit. The team had already told her it was impossibly large inside. Still, as she stepped through the doors she felt her eyes nearly pop out of her head.

"Oh… wow… this is amazing," she whispered, though she wasn't sure why, as she stared around the TARDIS. "I can't believe this! It's beautiful!"

The Doctor's mood seemed to brighten a bit with Garcia around and he was suddenly extremely grateful for the technical analyst. "Isn't she?" he asked, making way for the controls.

Garcia was running her fingers along the column when she spotted Martha, Mickey, Reid and… the other Martha.

"There really are two of you!" she said, "I thought they were just making that up, wow, that's got to be confusing. How are we supposed to address you? Martha one and Martha two?" she frowned thoughtfully, about to make a remark about how they could at least tell them apart when Reid grimaced and muttered to himself.

"Reid! Are you okay!" she rushed immediately to his side and put a hand to his head, brushing his hair to the side.

"His headaches are getting worse," "past" Martha explained.

"Don't worry," "future" Martha said gently, "It'll be okay."

Garcia studied her, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am," Martha nodded to her former self, "I've been here before. I know what happens. It'll be alright." She had to give them some reassurance, after all. She couldn't tell them much of anything, the least she could do was tell them that it would be alright.

* * *

><p><strong>~.\~**

* * *

><p>When the TARDIS arrived back at the warehouse the BAU entered cautiously, hoping the Doctor's mood would at least be marginally improved by now. They were only slightly surprised to see Garcia with them. Of course Garcia would insist on going.<p>

"Alright, now, you two," he pointed at Martha and Mickey standing by the column near the door. "Time the go. The TARDIS has got a stomach ache having two Marthas on board and I know which one I'm keeping."

"Past" Martha couldn't help but feel a bit happy to hear him say that, despite the fact that "future" Martha was technically herself. She occupied herself with watching Spencer so she wouldn't be too tempted to asked questions, but now she stood up, moving away from Spencer and toward the Doctor.

"What about Dr. Reid?" she asked, "Are you going to try to fix his headaches?"

The Doctor glanced at the young agent and nodded slowly, "I have an idea what might be wrong," he said quietly, "But I'll need to make sure."

He stepped closer to Reid, "Spencer, can you sit up for a second?"

Reid nodded, wincing, "Yeah," he said, sitting up and then pushing himself off the seat, standing in front of the Doctor. He had to force his eyes open, his head was pounding and screaming inside and the odd pictures hadn't disappeared yet. He was beginning to think maybe he was wrong about this not being schizophrenia and that thought terrified him like no other.

"Aren't you two leaving yet?" the Doctor asked, frowning when he realized that "future" Martha and Mickey were still there.

"Not yet," Martha said quietly, "I stay for this part too, Doctor. I told you, you told me to make sure this happens exactly the same."

The Doctor nodded curtly and turned his attention back to Spencer, taking a deep breath.

"Just relax for a moment, Spencer. I'm going to take a quick look in your head. If I'm right, I may be able to fix this, okay? So relax…"

Reid nodded and closed his eyes when the Doctor pressed his fingers gently to Reid's temples. They hardly rested there for a moment when the Doctor frowned and removed them, staring at Reid incredulously, eyes wide with surprise.

"But that's impossible!"

* * *

><p><strong>~DWCM~**

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Hmm, bad place to end it? Another cliffhanger? Yes and yes. XD

So, the next chapter is DEFINITELY going to be the last. Yes, this story is almost over. And I gave you an extra-long chapter to make up for your wait.

Hope that "action" scene was good. I'm really terrible at them, I despise having to write them and try my very best to avoid it at all costs, but it was needed. And I hope the Doctor's reaction was in-character. It feels a bit off, but hopefully not *too* much off. A lot happened this chapter… Could've probably broken it into two, but I couldn't find a feasible place to break it off so I just kept is as one.

So, next chapter being the end. Sad to see this almost over. HOWEVER, I have good news in that it is over halfway written already (I've been working on it off and on for a while now) so there's that. Just have the ending of it to go now so you won't have to suffer for too long waiting and then the sequel is coming up too! :D

Sorry for the long a/n! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please, please review!


	14. Chapter 14

**Title: **Beauty, the Beast

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Violence and adult themes; mild swearing; complete nerdy-ness

**A/N: **LAST CHAPTER GUYS! Going to miss this one. But at least this time I didn't make you wait so long for the update! I told you I had this one almost finished :D

**Thank you all** for your amazing reviews/support! I love you guys so much and appreciate all of the reviews/alerts/favorites adds!

Special thanks goes to **KMW1968 **for all of her suggestions/comments/critiques and immense help on this story! I honestly doubt it would be half this good without her ideas and suggestions. And there probably wouldn't be a sequel in the works either.

And also a huge thanks to my dear friend Laura (**SlasherrGirl**) without whom this actual fic wouldn't exist because she's the reason I ever watched Doctor Who in the first place and yelled at me via PM whenever she wanted an update. Thanks :D

Now, ahem, drum roll please…

*da dada da!*

The reason for Reid's headaches is revealed!

(Also, remember, there is both a **sequel** in the making and a **prequel** as well - I want to tell the entire story about Reid's headaches and that's what the prequel will be for. The sequel will come first, however)

Also, some other stuff. LOL. Enjoy and **PLEASE REVIEW**!

* * *

><p><strong>Beauty, the Beast<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Fourteen<strong>

* * *

><p><em>"But that's impossible!"<em> the Doctor frowned and the team, plus the two Marthas and Mickey, watched in apprehension as the Doctor stared at Reid with incredulous eyes. "You've traveled in time before…"

Reid blinked, frowning. Honestly, he'd have a better time focusing on what the Doctor was saying if his head didn't hurt this much. It was going to drive him crazy. "What are you talking about?"

"That's what the extra energy on you was… There's a block on your mind holding back the memories. You've traveled in time before, but how? You've only been on the TARDIS once, but somehow, somewhere, you've traveled in time. I suspected that someone put a psychic block on your mind, but they've done more than that, they put a great deal of energy into making sure you don't remember what happened."

Martha, the "past" Martha, frowned at the Doctor, "But how's that possible?" she asked, "How can he have time traveled before?"

"Oh, there are plenty of possibilities," the Doctor said, staring at Reid as he grimaced, still holding his head as he stumbled back and sat down. "None of them particularly good, but what I'm more interested in is why someone would go to the trouble of erasing those memories…" he spun around to face "future" Martha suddenly, who jumped at bit at the calculating gaze.

"What do you know? Do you know who did this to him? And why?"

She bit her lip and shook her head, "You told me not to tell you, Doctor, I'm sorry. You said it was imperative that I told you as little as possible."

The Doctor scowled, "Of course I did,"

"Forget about that," JJ spoke up suddenly, "Can you fix him? Is he going to be okay?"

The Doctor turned back to Reid and took a deep breath, "I can try. I can't guarantee anything, you understand, but I may be able to remove the block… Whoever did this clearly underestimated the power of Spencer's mind. He's been subconsciously trying to unlock the memories since they were shut out, that's what's causing the headaches."

He took a step forward and Reid winced as he gently removed the young man's hands from his temples and replaced them with his own. "Just close your eyes, Spencer, relax. Try not to think about the pain, alright?"

Reid nodded mutely and closed his eyes as the Doctor closed his own and everyone on the TARDIS fell silent, watching apprehensively. "Past" Martha jerked suddenly when she felt a hand grip her own and turned to see JJ standing there, blue eyes wide and worried as she watched the two men.

It seemed like a lifetime, but it really couldn't have been more than a minute, before Reid gasped and blinked a few times.

"It's alright," the Doctor whispered, "Just old memories. I'm trying to locate the block. Just relax."

Reid closed his eyes again, but only for a few seconds before both he and the Doctor seemed to freeze, eyes shooting open.

"What wa-" before the Doctor could finish the sentence, Reid had grabbed his wrists and flung him backwards, hazel eyes round and wide as he shook slightly, tremors running through his entire body as he doubled over for a moment.

"Doctor!" Martha let go of JJ's hand and rushed towards him as he stumbled and righted himself.

"I'm fine," he assured her, frowning at Reid.

"Spencer, I need to undo the block, you –"

Reid shook his head rapidly, "No, you did, it's gone, I can… I can remember…" he swallowed roughly and shut his eyes again, biting his lip.

The Doctor narrowed his own eyes, "Then let me see, Spencer, we need to figure out what happened, why someone blocked the memories. Do you remember who did that to you?"

Reid took a deep breath and nodded slowly, "I do. But I can't tell you, Doctor," he said quietly, fighting back a grimace as an insane grin flashed through his mind and a shiver ran down his spine. "Future" Martha walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently.

"What? Why can't you tell me?"

"Because you told me not to," Reid whispered quietly.

Memories were flashing by so quickly across his mind that he never believed he'd possessed. Impossible memories, going backwards in his mind like an old tape on rewind.

_"Spencer, I need you to listen to me, please!" the Doctor was clutching him by his shoulders, green eyes wide and vaguely desperate. "Very soon, I'm not exactly sure when, but very soon someone is going to try to erase all of this. It's my fault, I think… I ended up too early in your timestream. Before you meet me. But you need to listen,"_

Reid didn't even know how he was certain that the man was the Doctor. He looked nothing like the Doctor he'd met a few days ago with Martha. This Doctor looked younger and was wearing a bowtie. Why was he wearing a bowtie?

_"But I'll fix it, I swear to you, I will. Not with this face, I remember that bit, but I can't tell you anything. Just promise me that the second you start to remember you push me away. Do not let me see your memories. I can't know what's coming in my future and you know too much!"_

_Spencer swallowed roughly, shaking. He hardly knew this man who claimed to know him extremely well. Too well, in fact. How was that even possible? "Doctor, what are you talking about?"_

_"No, no, Spencer, I'm sorry, you've just got to trust me," The Doctor pulled Reid to him, closing his eyes as he gripped his shoulders tightly, pressing his forehead to his. "Please. Just do this for me. It's important. No matter how much I beg, no matter what I do, do not let me know what happens."_

_"Doctor –"_

_The Doctor leaned up and pressed a kiss to the young man's forehead, "Please," he said softly, his voice so quiet he could hardly hear him. "Please, Spencer, do this for me."_

_Reid nodded shakily, "O-okay," he said, still confused. Still absolutely lost. But he'd do it. Because the Doctor asked him to._

"What? I told you not to? How –"

Reid took a deep breath and shook his head, "You made me promise, Doctor, I'm sorry. I can't tell you."

For a moment, everyone was quiet and the Doctor slowly let out a breath. "You've met me before,"

"Future" Martha nodded, "A future version of you, Doctor. And you made him promise not to tell you anything about you or what had happened."

"Of course I did, of course. Foreknowledge is dangerous, tricky. Messy. Can't have me knowing my own future, can we?"

Reid pressed his lips together, headache still fading away with rapid progress as the memories flowed in and out and he began to wonder how he'd ever forgotten any of it. It all seemed so fantastic, so unbelievably wonderful and terrifying. Something that _should _have been etched into his memory forever.

_"This is going to be dangerous, Spencer, you remember – Well, no, of course you don't. Keep forgetting you haven't met me yet."_

_"I'm still confused. How can you know me and I don't know you?"_

_"I meet you later, in your future. I got here too early, can't go back and change that now, crossing my own timestream is tricky business, don't want to destroy the entire universe now do I?" there was an odd smile on the Doctor's face as he said those words, but his eyes were distant and worried._

_"I'll do whatever I can to help you, but… I'm still not convinced this isn't some hallucination," Reid insisted, looking around the TARDIS with curious yet suspicious eyes._

_The Doctor sighed heavily, "Of course. No offense Spencer, but I liked you much better when you trusted me."_

_"Well you can't really blame that on me, can you? I hardly know you!"_

_He looked sad then, "I know. That's what's unfair. If I'd landed in the correct time, this wouldn't even be happening. You're much more helpful when you know what you're doing, by the way."_

For some reason that memory made Reid want to laugh. It was obviously a difficult thing for the Doctor, but Reid knew him better now – not as well as he apparently would eventually though. Having the knowledge that he did made it all seem just a tiny bit hilarious.

The Doctor standing in front of him now was giving him an odd look, clearly wanting the answer to the question, but knowing how dangerous having the answer would be.

"I'm sorry," Reid said quietly, meeting his eyes. "But you made me promise not to tell you what happens." He paused and took a deep breath, "But… I will tell you this. One day you're going to meet me and I won't know you. Take me with you anyway."

The Doctor blinked, frowning. "Why?"

Reid shook his head, "That's all I can tell you without risking too much. Just please, take me with you. And don't blame yourself for what happens because it's not your fault and you fix it anyway."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed and he glanced over at "future" Martha and Mickey. Martha looked anxious, biting her lower lip. She hoped he'd accept that they couldn't tell him anything more and let it go. Of course, knowing the Doctor he probably wouldn't really let it go, but he'd at least not actively try to find the answer.

"Alright, alright," the Doctor repeated, though his voice said that it most certainly was _not _alright. "Well then, solved the case. Stopped the problem…" his voice hitched there, clearly still upset about _how _"the problem" had been stopped. Despite all her flaws and the lives she'd take, the Doctor hated that she'd had to die.

"Fixed Dr. Reid and everything fine and dandy again, isn't it? So, time for Mr. and Mrs. Smith to go back home, you BAU agents to get back to your jobs and Martha and I will get back to our travel schedule. Still got a whole universe out there to see…"

The Doctor turned his back on everyone, focusing on the TARDIS controls, pressing his lips together tightly. Slowly, the BAU said goodbye and left the ship. Garcia was the last to leave, casting one last, aweing look around the magnificent space and slipping out behind JJ. Only Reid, "past" Martha, "future" Martha and Mickey remained.

"Future" Martha stepped forward, "Doctor," she said quietly, "I know you can't take us home, the TARDIS already doesn't like just having both of us on board, but…" her eyes darted to her past-self and she looked sad. She knew what was coming and wished there were some other way to prepare herself for that.

"I just wanted to say that… I had the time of my life with you, running across the universe, saving people and planets and fighting alien monsters. Really. And no matter what happens, please don't forget that. I wouldn't take it back for anything."

The Doctor blinked and slowly looked up at her, giving her a curt nod. She sighed. That was all she was going to get for now, she knew. She wanted to say that she'd see him again, but figured that was something best left unsaid. She glanced to Mickey and took his hand, smiling at her husband.

"Goodbye, Doctor," she said quietly, "Spencer… I'll see you later."

And then they were gone too. Martha could hear the voices of the FBI agents outside still, probably waiting for Reid, mingling with her own voice and Mickey's. She was bursting with questions she wanted to ask her future-self. Who was Mickey to her? How had they met? When would she see Spencer again? Why had she ever left the Doctor in the first place? Her feet itched to run out that door after herself and ask all those questions and more, but she didn't. She knew enough to know how badly that could end, how dangerous that was.

The TARDIS was silent for a moment and the Doctor finally frowned, getting tired of pretending to fiddle with the console.

"Aren't you going to go?" he demanded.

Reid took a breath and shook his head, "Not yet. I want to say something…" he trailed off and glanced to Martha. He didn't know exactly what happened or why she left, but from what he remembered of the other Martha, he knew it was bad.

"You probably won't understand what I'm talking about for a long time, but… Despite what you think, you don't need to be sorry. Not for giving people something they could only dream about with you. I know you think you put people in danger, but they choose to go with you because it's worth that risk. You're worth the monsters."

Martha smiled, nodding and putting a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. For once he didn't tug away from her touch. "I couldn't have said it better myself," she said, grinning brightly. "No matter what nightmare we run through, it's always worth it to be with you."

The Doctor looked between Martha and Spencer's faces and sighed, "You two are amazing," he said, "Blind and possibly more naïve than you think, but still, brilliant and amazing." He smiled, finally, and Martha moved her hand from his shoulder. Spencer stood to leave, picking up his discarded jacket and looking around the TARDIS sadly. He knew he would miss this.

Martha smiled and nudged the Doctor gently, "Doctor," she said, watching Reid, "Don't you think Spencer deserves a trip? Just one at least?"

Reid blinked, surprised at Martha's offer. The Doctor hesitated and glanced at the young agent's face. He smiled again, "Absolutely. What d'ya say, Spencer? Fancy a trip?"

Reid grinned, shaking his head, "As long as you can get me home before the team starts a search party,"

The Doctor laughed then, nodding and pushing buttons and levers, "Oh, I'm sure I can manage that. Now, just a quick stop in Cardiff to fuel up and we'll be on our way… Somewhere safe this time, hmm?"

He was in his element again, much happier and more excited than he'd been just minutes ago. A wide grin spread across his face and his eyes shone and Martha and Reid got the distinct impression that he was showing off as he pressed the button and glanced at them excitedly, the TARDIS engines whirring to life once more.

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><p><strong>~.\~**

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><p>Martha shut the TARDIS doors behind her and closed her eyes for a moment, wondering if this would be the last time she would see the Doctor. She knew her past-self still had many more adventures on the way – she wasn't even married yet. But what about her? Every time she saw him she wondered if it would be the last time. Maybe this was it. She didn't know. And she found an odd sort of comfort in not knowing. Knowing what was coming didn't really make anything easier, after all.<p>

"Where's Reid?" JJ frowned as they stepped away from the wonderful, impossible blue box.

"Not coming," Martha said quietly, glancing over at Mickey, "The Doctor's taking him on a trip."

"Is he coming back?" Prentiss frowned incredulously, glancing back at the TARDIS where it sat in the middle of the now nearly destroyed spaceship. They were all avoiding even standing near the body of the alien. UNIT couldn't arrive too soon in their opinion.

"Yeah, I think so," Martha nodded, "That I'm not too clear on, but he wasn't with Donna and the Doctor when I called him to help UNIT on the ATMOS disaster so I'm pretty sure he does end up back here. Don't think he could stay away for too long, really."

"ATMOS?" Hotch frowned, "The Atmospheric Omission System that was in all those vehicles a few years ago?"

"Yeah," Martha nodded, "The one that almost wiped out most of the Earth."

Morgan frowned, "The Doctor was part of that?"

"Of course," Mickey answered, "When there's something freaky goin' on, good bet the Doctor'll be there to fix it."

"He used to work with UNIT," Martha explained, "Back in the 1970s… I think. He wasn't just there when the Sycorax threatened or when the Cybermen attacked… He's always there. Whenever we need him. Defending us."

"The seventies?" Garcia said, "How… there's no way he was old enough to work for UNIT in the seventies!"

"He's older than you think," Martha said, "The Doctor you just met is about… 903?" she glanced over at Mickey, her brows furrowed.

"Don't look at me," he said, "You know him better than I do."

She smiled, shaking her head, "But last time I saw him he was 1103. He's getting up there in age."

"So he was telling the truth?" JJ asked, "What he said earlier about having lived so long and seen all those things… That was true?"

"'Course it was," Martha smiled, "Even the Doctor couldn't make that up."

Behind Martha and Mickey the TARDIS began to fade, the engines whirring as she blinked in and out of focus for a few seconds and then vanished completely. Martha turned to watch her go, a sad sort of smile on her face as she gripped Mickey's hand. She really did miss those days, travelling with the Doctor…

"Is Reid going to be okay?" Garcia asked, "With the Doctor, I mean? From everything I've seen he's not the safest person to travel with…"

Martha eyed the technical analyst and sighed, "He'll be okay," she said, "I mean… what's about to happen to them isn't going to be good, not at all, but he'll make it and so will the Doctor and everyone else."

She laughed a slightly bitter laugh, "You guys won't even remember it happened… Er, well, you don't remember it happened, I should say."

"What do you mean?" Hotch frowned.

"I meet you… Again, before… Time travel makes everything more complicated. And…" her eyes were sad, "And I really wish there had been more I could do, but I couldn't and even though you don't remember it, I am sorry. But don't worry about Spencer. He's with the Doctor, which is exactly where he needs to be. It how things have to happen… And if there's one person in this world that I would trust to get me out of a dangerous situation, it's the Doctor. He's never let me down before."

The team were all quiet for a moment, unsure of what to say.

It took UNIT almost two hours to arrive and Martha and Mickey explained what had happened quietly. The BAU was still there, waiting to see if they would need to answer any questions. The UNIT agents were brisk and professional and abrupt and they got the body cleared off the ship in less than half an hour. It would take longer to get the ship out of the warehouse without anyone noticing, but as far as the BAU were concerned the case was over and in UNIT hands now.

Martha and Mickey said their goodbyes and left, saying that they had somewhere else they needed to be. As the BAU was leaving, Morgan hesitated and stopped, frowning back at the spot where the TARDIS had been sitting not so long ago. The rest of the team was outside waiting for him but he caught one of the UNIT employees and tugged him to the side.

"Can I ask you a question?"

The man was young, probably hadn't been working in UNIT too long. He nodded slowly, "Yes, sir?"

"Do you know who the Doctor is?"

The man's face broke out into a grin and he nodded, "Of course, sir. He's a legend. A lot of aren't sure he really exists, but I know he does. I'll meet him one day, if I'm lucky."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because…" he hesitated, "He's the greatest man to ever live and no one knows his name, sir. The things he's done to help this planet… And he never even asks for a thank-you."

Morgan nodded slowly, chewing his lip thoughtfully. "Thank you," he said quietly, turning and leaving. He glanced up at the sky, pitch black and scattered with stars and he sighed.

"Wherever you are, Pretty Boy, at least you're with a good man…"

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><p><strong>THE END<strong>

**(Don't miss the sequel, "Armageddon", coming this June!)**

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><p><strong>Please don't forget to review!<strong>

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><p><strong>Thank you all for reading this, I hope you enjoyed!<strong>

**~criminalxxxmindsxxxfreak~**


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